Nobody ever said it is convenient to be a creator.
This is one of the toughest things you can do for your work, and several founders said they would have done many things differently if they had to go back in time.
Why? Why? And it takes a lot of sacrifices to embark on an entrepreneurial quest, whether to follow a desire for an idea or to discover the discovery that anything could be improved.
Some are important, such as exchanging cushioned wages for unreliable revenue. However, based on my experience and the input of those who did it before, three aspects a contractor can never compromise, even with the additional burden from running an enterprise.
Sacrifice your family bond (or inner circle)
The average age of successful businessmen may vary depending on the region, but the general consensus is between the late 30s and the mid-40s. This is because you have not only the industry’s expertise and resources, but also the network.
This also means that you probably have a much larger family, including your wife, children, parents, a circle of friends and family around you.
For several, this means sacrificing this inner group, instead of attending to their child’s recital or even their partner’s case. However, families can never be a sacrifice to make the startup ‘successful.’
“Having children changes how you act in a very drastic way about the future,” — “I used to have really late meetings,” Zuckerberg said. “But now, I make sure I offer [Maxima] a bath three days a week.”
And if your partner is involved and flexible to schedule, open contact with them is necessary to sustain a stable partnership and confidence. Also, you don’t want to skip the memorable moments, which can’t be substituted until the following day.
I learnt the difficult way of this lesson by losing one of my closer inner circle of friends with whom I am not talking today. They cut me off over time because what I tried to do was to get my startup job done (which failed).
The truth is that your interests as a businessman speak volumes to you.
Your sleep and mental well being
Life is limitless. Life is finite.
As clear as it sounds, your mental health should be a priority above all, particularly if you sacrifice it just to get that extra job.
For Lauren in Never Ending, 18 hour days jobs have paralysed her body, causing an autoimmune disease and a breakdown.
“Was the effort really worth it? No, it hadn’t been. However, it gave me a valuable lesson in giving priority to your fitness. I’m never going to make this error again.” Lauren Juliff – Lauren Juliff
Not only is your mental health critical, you too will suffer from a lack of sleep. Many findings show that sleep is one of the main factors for keeping us well.
A few years back, I worked 5 hours a day to squeeze myself into some spare work. As I reflected on this today, I remembered how poorly I was (I was over 25 pounds today) and my mental health was all down the wash. It’s funny that you never remember these things when you retrospectively think of them.
Not convinced yet? Here is a list of reasons why it is necessary to sleep enough:
- Makes you not get sick much
- Makes you keep the rate healthy
- Reduces the chances of severe health issues such as diabetes and cardiac diseases
- Decreases stress and enhance mood
- Makes the brain become more involved and clearly thought
Open your own startup to the wrong company (selling).
This may not be a widespread problem, but this problem has emerged more than anticipated in interviews since communicating with multiple creators.
For me, selling your startup is a fantasy so you can bring money into the bank. But for others, they know they will never sell their startup so late. Unfortunately, there are several related stories but because of the sensitivity of the topic, they are kept publicly apart. The causes usually vary from poor purchases to poor management decisions.
Take Baio, whose startup Yahoo shut down after purchase, Upcoming. He later regretted his decision years later and wrote an unhappy message about his business with optimistic feelings.
“I’ve certainly heard from several private individuals who have similar tales,” Baio said to CNNMoney. But he added, “founders normally don’t speak badly about deals until they quit a business well after they have left. And then, these talks generally remain unrecorded.”
In a very similar storey, I also recall talking to a serial contractor who just raised his B-Series for his second startup at the time of his speech. One of the regrets he told me was to sell his startup and see it ruined and shut down by the parent firm.
After that case, he promised to have just one escape plan, an IPO, for his next start-up.
This is not an unusual topic
On TWIS (This Week in Startups), the founder of Wunderlist, Christian Reber, experienced a related event.
On the podcast, he says he knew what a big mistake he made when he was bought by Microsoft. Afterwards, he also bid Microsoft a better price to purchase his startup back but the bigger technology firm eventually declined.
Microsoft shut down the startup after a few years.
This is a storey not widely reported, but founders ready to talk loudly said verbally that selling their start-ups was one of the largest and most stubborn sacrifices ever.
Of course, this is not necessarily the case, and there were fantastic acquisitions, but in the third stage I tried to draw a different light. If you do get purchased, make sure that the transaction helps the company to flourish instead of closing down.
Last note
Being a businessman needs a lot of sacrifices.
You can not always have your way with everything and it becomes stressful as a founder to deal with anything, both business and personal.
However, in the name of achievement, there are some aspects that you can rethink ‘sacrifice.’ There are several founders who have offered their advice but in my view, these three points are either the most popular or “unusual” items that you will find as founders during your tenure.
Also Read: Modernize Imaging Operations
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