How to approach entrepreneurship when you feel lost
Back in school days summer meant three things: mangoes, vacation and loads of project work.
Getting printouts of projects was pretty hard back then. With no easy access to the internet, one had to go to an internet cafe and pay for an hour, on top of printing costs.
I had found a way to have easier access to printers. My younger self had the idea to capitalize on this opportunity.
Thus started the summer hustle of selling project printouts. Very quickly, I also added photo printout to that list. Since getting color prints on paper were expensive. But bulk prints on photo paper could be done easily, and most importantly for cheap.
I’d collect all the project work and photos on a pendrive and get it printed at the end of week at bulk rates. By next summer I had expanded to other schools. With my friends in those schools collecting the projects, and getting a part of earnings.
A recent twitter conversation with CeeJay inspired this trip down the memory lane.
As CeeJay pointed out, in business terms these are pretty common patterns. Group discounts are a marketing strategy and ways to leverage economies of scale. Friends getting part of the earning is a classic example of commission based sales model.
The funny part here is, I knew none of these terms back then. I tried out a bunch of things, the tactics I mentioned are what happened to work. And this captures the beauty of a beginner's approach. When we don’t hold ourselves back with reasons of why not to approach something, and just take actions and see what works.
A meme that was doing the rounds of the Crypto circle, the midwit meme captures this nuance quite well.
The meme portrays that the way a beginner and an expert entrepreneur would approach a problem looks quite similar. But, there is a spectrum where one is more biased towards overthinking.
This is an intellectual trap that one can fall into, that would inhibit them from taking action. And I say this as I identify myself in this midwit spectrum. And this kind of intellectual bias or risk has led to inaction for a long time.
I have been building MailDigest for the past months. Even now, I find myself falling into this spell of inaction due to sheer number of possibilities. Which is only mitigated by a mindful nudge to take the first simple step.
This is in contrast to the example in my childhood days, where I had this “just do and see” approach. Sometimes it’s very very simple. It pays to embrace the simple thinking behind something and take action.
The example of this can is seen in some of the successful companies out there:
Amazon was so named, because the web directories were alphabetically listed, putting it on the top.
SpaceX started with Elon wanting to go to mars, so he went to Russia to buy rockets. Which sounds quite silly as an idea.
DoorDash happened Tony couldn’t find a way to get takeaway to his dorm. So decided to deliver food himself.
Stripe is my favourite example of this. Everyone had the problem of transferring money. But no one wanted to solve it, due to the regulations and complexities. Until Stripe did.
Takeaway from this is that overthinking is detrimental for founders. And it pays to have a beginner's mind. Which is a bit hard since we acquire biases as we go through different experiences as we grow up. But with proper mindfulness we can cultivate a beginner’s approach mentality. It can start with a simple question -- If I didn’t know anything, what would I do ?
PS: If you’re wondering what I did with my summer hustle money. A part of it went towards buying my first graphics card :P
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Did you have any hustle as a kid, let me know in the comments ! 👇
It's just as the Nike slogan goes, "Just do it". We suffer a lot in our imagination & outcomes than actually doing something.
This was one interesting read, Suvojit :)
Thanks Goutham!
It is true that our imagination blocks our progress sometime. Our brain rejects the idea that something can be simple and looks for a complex explanation.
Really great Post @smanna!
Thank you @bgrande :D
Definitely insightful. Sent me down memory lane as well. I had a lot of entrepreneurial tendencies and projects growing up myself.
I look back and wonder where has that person gone? I take a lot less risks, and a lot less action. I calculate a lot and can get very cerebral.
The reality that I've come to believe is that all those tendencies I looked up to aren't gone, they're buried under layers of callouses from lived experience.
Maybe my willpower is damped because I'm too jaded. It's something I work daily to peel away and get back to.
I used to think I can start to solve it by spending hours being alone in thought. I now feel the opposite is true. Get out of my head more and take more action, even if I haven't thought through all the possibilities.
I think that's a really good point. I think a lot of people get caught up in their own heads and that can definitely lead to stagnation.
It's important to take action and not get too caught up in the planning phase. Sometimes you just have to go for it and see what happens!
Interesting read! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing! this resonates a lot with me. overthinking, overplanning, wanting everything to be perfect before taking action.
Glad you found it helpful.
Wow, we're you born in 1984? Hustled all summer bootlegging chart toppers and working in Chip shops for my Voodoo3DFX 🤓😍
Was born a bit late to use a Voodoo 5 card. But early enough to know what it is 😉
Write more!
Thanks for the encouragement Dmytro !
Great post!
new
have fun
Yes, kiddies' minds are great for that simplicity, spontaneity, and action orientation.
Connecting to your inner child is a good hack.
I kind of arrived at this insight recently, I have been trying to connect to my younger self, by visiting my childhood places, and reading books that inspired me back then. The reason is I feel stuck in this intellectual set of reasoning and planning which is killing me and paralyzing my actions. I wish there had been a therapy like hypnosis to bring my memories and mindset of my younger self back, faster.
The winning mindset is your audacious unstoppable youthfull_self combined with experiences and skills you accumulated in your later life, I think.
That's a great way to get in the mindset ! Never thought about it that way.
Absolutely agree about the last point ! We tend to stop our growth as we grow up, but a winning mindset mean cranking it up !
Great post @smanna. Part of the reason I am building a community where founders interact regularly is to help with exactly this. Making sure that there is an external challenge to your ideas to help keep things simple, not overthink and keep on moving.
Communities are very helpful for accountability and ideas @phil_oxogen_io !!
What's the community you're building ?
Oxogen.io is a community for new founders to get peer and expert advice. It can be so hard to be a new founder and even if you read all the theory it is tough to put it into practice. For little more than a Netflix subscription you get awesome specific advice from people who have been where you are and are experts at building a startup.
We want to make it a place where people can feel like they can progress at their speed and know that every step they take is meaningful, without the high cost of a mentor/consultant.
Amazing thought
Thank you 🙌
Yep, so true. Especially with all the shiny objects of running an online business these days, there's some new idea/thing/software in your face everyday! I've recently started using a notion dashboard that's got work and life things mixed in there, and it's helping me a lot in terms of staying focussed and on task. :)
I also think having a healthy relationship with (or avoiding, if you can) social media & news consumption helps with this a lot too.
Oh my God! So true about the shiny objects aspect ! Gives quite a bit of FOMO.
I use Notion too for organising most of my life! Have you built any specific workflow on Notion ?
Yes, I have a daily dashboard page that pulls in tasks for the day automatically, and do weekly reviews to assign/reassign tasks, projects, set goals and track stats 😁 It's a template that was shared through my group coaching program, and I love it! How about you?
I have made a dashboard following the PARA organization technique. And some daily templates on top of that. 😃
Your template sounds great for weekly reviews ! I was thinking about asking if you could share the template, but it looks like it's exclusive to your group 😅
Being an entrepreneur is not just selling your products! You have to create a connection with your clients and make them feel like you know what they need and that you relate to their situation.
Completely agree, it's about building real relationship and enriching each other !
This is exactly what I’ve been going through lately! A good term I try to go by is “keep it simple, stupid”. https://kngsly.io/woptafdtm
Something my grandma would tell me and applies to many rules of life.
Great writing ! We do tend to fall in the trap of out mind sometimes ! YOur grandma sounds like a great person :D
Man, you were a born entrepreneur! 🤣
What took you so long to build your own product?
All the business terms are coined based on entrepreneurial actions, not the other way around. You can coin your own terms and methods if it works!
Yes, we are the victim of analysis paralysis now. Important thing is to go for it. You are right about the meme.
Life happened 😂 Things are simple when one is young and stupid 😆
The meme is simple, but effective.
Great article Suvojit 👏 You were waaaay more wise and business savvy as a kid than me ;) Overthinking is indeed one of the worst business killers. We should really learn from children. Yeah, they lack planning and strategic thinking, but compensate it with doing things without fear and having fun in the process 🤩
Wise wouldn't be the way I'd describe myself :P
It's a bit sad to see that sometimes out own mind gets in the way of progress. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Thanks for saving me from the solo entrepreneurship anxiety.
Your simple story is quite convincing. "Just do it".
There's no one answer to this question, as everyone's experience with entrepreneurship will be unique. However, a few pieces of advice that may be helpful for those feeling lost are to connect with other entrepreneurs, set realistic goals, and create a support network.
Connecting with other entrepreneurs can provide valuable insights and perspective on the challenges you're facing. There are lots of online and offline resources available, such as entrepreneur groups, meetups, and forums.
Setting realistic goals can help you stay focused and motivated, even when things are tough. When goal-setting, it's important to be specific, realistic, and achievable.
Creating a support network of family, friends, and others who believe in your vision can be a powerful source of encouragement. These people can provide moral support and help you stay positive when things get tough.
it's a nice blog that gives great knowledge.thank you
Starting a business in the coming economic cycle should make growth its own cause for starting a business. Over-thinking and over-disassembling is harmful to founders.
The best founders in the world start out with some sort of desperate ego, rather than over-analyzing "where's the money?" that's what VCS think about, not founders. They may not be the most rewarding, but they still change a part of the world. Whether your business grows or not is sometimes not up to you.
Conversely, why grow!
This was an interesting read. Thanks for sharing!
Do you think the Crypto winter is really here again?