What They Don’t Tell You About Starting a Company
By: Jordyn Adegun
Tags: Startup Life, Struggle, Startup, Business, Startup Lessons

) Find an outlet for the struggle

You need to have an outlet for the pain that you will undoubtedly go through. Yes, that may sound grim but hear me out. Founder depression is found in more than 50% of founders according to many studies and it is simply because you are going through such hardship and you have to endure it usually by yourself or if not with one of other person. Don’t start a company to make yourself happy start a company to go along with the inner happiness you already have in yourself. If you are thinking startup, startup, startup 24/7 you will go crazy. You’re not being lazy, you’re being human. Look at a startup as a marathon. You don’t start off a marathon sprinting. It may look good at first but undoubtedly you will burn out well before the race is won. You have to learn how to manage when to slam on the gas and when to know that you need to be doing something else. That is where an outlet comes in. Have a productive outlet that makes you feel genuinely happy or accomplished, and it doesn’t matter what it is. This will be different for every person. It can be video games, a dog, yoga, exercise, Netflix, piano, you name it. The goal is to just make you feel good and accomplished because when things are going wrong, this will be your outlet so you don’t quit on what could be the next greatest company in the world.

2.) People love to speak on subjects that they have no understanding of

If you went to a dog training class and the teacher said “I have never owned a dog before”, would you listen to them? If you went to school to learn business and the teacher said “I’ve never started a business before”, would you listen to them? If your best friend tries to give you relationship advice but they have been through 5 divorces, would you listen to them? Of course not! But unfortunately these are all things that happen everyday. Don’t fall into the trap. You will hear say you’re lazy, you’re taking too much risk, try to give you feedback on your idea, etc… DON’T FALL INTO THE TRAP. I believe the reason why we make this mistake is because the journey of a startup is so lonely that you just want others to be there in any way they can (this is why an outlet is so important^). Look at these situations with a conscious logical head and realize what ever you are trying to do, YOU ARE THE EXPERT. In the situations where you are not the expert go talk to an actual expert and I guarantee they will tell you something very different from what the others stated.

3.) You find light in the simpler things

You will find light in the things that you may not have appreciated before. A nice walk with your dog can be so fun, not just for the dog but you too! Watching an episode of Family Guy can give you all the laughs you need for the whole day! Maybe you find out that going out to a restaurant for a quick bite to eat by yourself isn’t as bad as they portray it in movies, you just wanted some good food! You will surely find your own things that you never realized that you appreciated, but when you are working hard, and constantly crunched for time, the simpler things can bring so much light to any dark day, take advantage of that.

4.) Always shoot your shot

No matter what it is, you never know unless you try. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Yes, I know it is such an old saying but how often do you actually live by it. If you have been wanting to meet a new girl/ guy and you see someone that may peak your interest, did you just walk by that person and not say a word? That question that you might have thought was stupid to ask but it lingered in your mind all day after you missed that opportunity, why didn’t you ask it? That business that you believe you can help but you got nervous, why not try to help them if you think you have a real solution? The answer is something different internally for all of us. At the end of the day the worst thing that can happen is… they say no. You didn’t get punched, the world didn’t set on fire, pigs didn’t start flying… they just said no. That’s no big deal. But when you got the girl/guy of your dreams, that’s a big deal. When you got a 90% instead of an 85% because you got that one lingering question right, that’s a big deal. When you found out that business was struggling with your solution and they then recommended you to five others, that’s a big deal. Remember, shoot your shot.

5.) The “why me” mentality gets you nowhere

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.”- Rocky Balboa

Michael Jordan was cut from his 10th grade basketball team. Dr’ Seuss’ first book was rejected by 27 publishers. Facebook even with all of its success, has been sued multiple times for billions of dollars. A reporter asked Mark why he didn’t sell the company back in the day when Yahoo offered to buy for $1 billion. His answer is simple, “I don’t know if I could ever come up with another good idea again as good as Facebook.” No one remembers the shots you missed, they remember the game winning buzzer beater that one the series. It is unfortunate that it isn’t talked about more but it should be so that entrepreneurs can have a more clear understanding that what they are going through is normal. The stories about the failures won’t catch as many eyes, so they’re often not written about, but they happen! Colonel Sanders didn’t sell his first KFC location until he was 60 years old. What did he do before that? I surely have no clue, but he didn’t reach what he deemed as “successful” until the age of 60 so it was definitely plenty failures along the way. If he would’ve said, “why me”, he would’ve never started one of the most popular fast food chains in the country. Instead of thinking, “why you” think, “thank goodness this is happening to me” because it will all be apart of your grand story one day. If you don’t keep pushing through, that story will never come to fruition.