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MenuWhat are some of the 'normal' emotional challenges that new entrepreneurs should expect to feel in their first few weeks? How do you cope?
I just left my job to start my own company in San Francisco, and it has been a lot of ups and downs. I am wondering what others have gone through after taking the jump.
Answers
Scared shitless. Self-doubt. Poor sleep. Waking up with pangs of fear. Doubt I made the right choice to leave my job. Doubt. Doubt. Doubt and doubt.
The ups and downs will continue...for ever. The July thing that changes (if you stick with it) is you learn to enjoy the ride.
I cover this in great detail in Chapter 12 of my book Double Double. However, since I can't attach that here - I also covered it online - in a blog post for Tim Ferris a few years back - here it is - http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/10/03/harnessing-entrepreneurial-manic-depression-making-the-rollercoaster-work-for-you/
Many of my clients have made the big jump you have.
The emotional challenges new entrepreneurs go through are typical to any changes: you will go from highs of the "honeymoon" phase and initial successes, to lows from inevitable failures and obstacles.
Entrepreneurship is an emotional rollercoaster. The best way to cope is to develop good entrepreneurial habits, from healthy living to sustainable work ethic.
You will have the pressure of having to manage a lot of conflicting priorities: by improving how you pay attention you can reduce stress, emotional breakdowns and financial struggles.
What emotional challenges are you most worried to bump into? What obstacles are you most anxious to have to overcome?
Schedule a call to talk about your specific situation and develop habits to succeed as an entrepreneur.
good question...
This depends on how well you have planned for the future.
If you have enough money for business and personal for a year, I would expect you would need to feel focused on results, happy clients, even happier investors and not focus much on how your feeling at the moment.
If you have spent thousands creating a new online business without money, support and team back up, I would imagine you are feeling desperate, embarrassed and possibly delusional.
Starting a business is an ever evolving experience. One that teaches you painful and joyful lessons alike.
When you jump, make sure you have a parachute that works.
G'luck out there!!!
The common thoughts that occur when starting a company is that you made the wrong decision. You will identify all the challenges that you are facing and see all the gaps in the idea early on that make you question the decision. Meanwhile you will start to see all the positives in your previous job, the consistent paycheck the lack of stress etc and forget the negatives, which actually caused you to make the jump.
In reality, everything that you do has ups and downs, advantages and disadvantages so its not productive to spend your whole time comparing your current role to every other job you had. It is best to focus on the key assumptions that have to be true for your startup to grow and test those out.
All startups go through challenges, all startups make mistakes so do not feel that just because you made a mistake or that you are facing a problem that your startup will definitely fail or that you are incompetent. Its part of the startup journey!
Related Questions
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I love this question. If you have to work on the side while building your business, I recommend doing something you absolutely hate. That keeps you hungry to succeed on your own. You'll also typically save your energy for the evenings and weekends where you'll want it for your business. Don't expect to make much money at your "other job" but you can work it to pay the bills while you build your business. This approach also forces you to build incrementally, and it keeps you frugal. This is not necessarily ideal. Having a bunch of money set aside sounds nice and luxurious, but not having the resources puts you in a position where you have to figure it out to survive. I love that. I started my business eight years ago on $150 and today we do a million a year. Don't wait until you have the resources to start safely. Dive in however you can. And avoid shortcuts. Don't waste your time scheming to make bigger money on the side. Do something honest to live on and create a business that drives value.CM
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How can I smoothly transition from full time worker to self-employment?
The ways I've done this in the past are 1) Find some customers that are willing to hire you (or your product) but know that you'll only be free nights & weekends to support/work with them. 2) Find a "partner" (co-founder or other) that's got a flexible schedule that can help build the business while you're at work. 3) Block out nights, mornings and weekends to build the business till you have enough orders to cover 50% of your salary. This might mean 7pm-11pm most nights, and 4 hours each day Sat & Sun. Make progress (sales $$$) and momentum. All that being said, it's risk reward. Sounds like you want to avoid taken the risk, and I get that .. but the upside is always smaller. Unless you put yourself in a position to have to succeed (ex: quitting your job) then you may never make the scary decisions that are required to build a company (like cold calling, going in debt, making a presentation, etc). I'm on company #5 with many other side projects started nights & weekends .. so I get it - but don't be afraid to bet on yourself and go all in.DM
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How has Uber grown so fast?
Obviously, they do the fundamentals well. Good brand. Good experience. Good word of mouth. Good PR. Etc. Etc. But after my interview with Ryan Graves, the head of Global Operations at Uber (https://www.growthhacker.tv/ryan-graves), it became clear that they are operationally advanced and this is a huge part of their success. I'll explain. Uber isn't just a single startup, it's essentially dozens of startups rolled into one because every time they enter a new city they have to establish themselves from essentially nothing (except whatever brand equity has reached the city ahead of them). This means finding/training drivers, marketing to consumers, and building out local staff to manage operations for that city. This is where Ryan Graves comes in. He has a protocol of everything that must be done, and in what order, and by who, to ensure the best chance of success in a new city. So how has Uber grown so fast? Essentially, they figured out how to grow in one locale and were relentless about refining their launch process to recreate that initial success over and over in new cities. No plan works for every city, and they've had to adapt in many situations, but it is still a driving factor for their success.BT
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If I have a business idea for a large company, how can I give it to them and mutually profit, without them just taking the idea and squashing me?
Probably not the answer you're looking for, but companies have so many unimplemented ideas that the likelihood of partnering to implement someone else's idea is really low. And besides which, the idea is not something that has much value in and of itself. If you're passionate in the idea, build it yourself. That's the only way you can have leverage.TW
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How was SnapChat able to grow so quickly?
I'm answering your question assuming that you hope to be able to replicate it's own success in your own mobile app. There are a couple of factors responsible for it's growth that are instructive to anyone building a mobile app. "Leveraging the intimacy and privacy of the mobile phone." We now have an *intimate* relationship with our phone like no other device in the history of technology. Every internet company that started before around 2010 has built their core interactions around "the old web" one which was accessed primarily via a browser on a computer. Companies that start with a clean slate, should be building their interactions around how to do whatever the app is supposed to do while leveraging what is unique to people's relationship to their mobile devices. Photo-sharing has become a core part of the way we communicate now. Snapchat built something that provided an experience that leveraged the feeling of privacy and intimacy that is unique to mobile. "Provided an escape from the "maturity" of other online services." Too many parents, aunts, uncles and other "old people" have encroached into the social networks of teens and young people. As a result, they've had a desire to find places to express themselves in places inaccessible by older generations. An important distinction is that it's not just parents and relatives that young people are trying to avoid, but also employers & colleges who are increasingly using "mature" social networks to review applicants. "Leveraged PR even bad PR" The fact that the app got so much press about it being used to sext was perfect PR for the company, as it essentially reinforced the brand experience that it has today. Essentially, "if it's safe enough to send a sext, it's safe for any kind of communication I want to have." And although the safety and security of Snapchat is actually not as advertised, it still enjoys the reputation of having less impact than any primarily web-based service. Building a successful mobile application is one of the hardest challenges to face designers, programmers and entrepreneurs in the history of writing software. Happy to talk to you if you're considering building a mobile app, about what I've learned about the "table stakes" for success.TW
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