So you’ve left that job you hate, or you’ve come straight out of college and into the big bad world of entrepreneurship. Congratulations, I’ll send you a gold medal in the mail for your bravery. You’ve been on the journey a short time, and it’s not phenomenal. “That’s right, Mr. Tim, something is missing.” Well, Mr. Tim (that’s me) is no guru, but I reckon I can solve some of your issues. Not because I’m so smart but because I’ve racked up a few hours and suffered many heartaches that caused heart-attack-like health problems.
There’s no rah-rah, wham-bam, standing ovation, high-five-your-partner in this article. Moreover, the advice is also counter-intuitive in some ways. You want to be a better entrepreneur and most assume that means the advice will be 99 percent business related. It’s not.
Sorry to say but success is usually the other way round. I can give you the world’s best product with the world’s best sales team, and you will probably still fail. The cause will be a combination of greed, ego, mindset and a few other ingredients that you’ll probably never even realize are present. Why? This whole entrepreneur journey thing is about the world that happens in your flipping head not the one’s and zero’s that appear on your spreadsheet, nor the product you think people will care about with all its bells and whistles.
Let’s get into the advice. Here are the four things that are missing from your entrepreneurial journey:
1. Your personal life sucks.
You can start to build the world’s greatest company but let me tell you firsthand that if your personal life sucks, your business will too. You’ll take your frustrations from your personal life into the office with you and take them out on any human being that enters your field of vision. You’ll have no idea why you’re doing this or even that you are doing this. People will just assume you’re a jerk, which is, unfortunately, bad for business — really bad for business.
Face up to the fact that you may be fat, lonely and single. Do something about it with one of those dating sites if you need to. It’s not hard, and you can’t escape the necessity. Our poor little human brains are programmed to survive, love and reproduce. The moment you forget these three facts human existence is the moment your entrepreneurial journey starts to go on a downward spiral toward bankruptcy and failure.
I’ve lived this tip first hand, so I’m living proof. I thought I could just waltz around in my stupidly fast, luxury car and think that I…