4 ways to lead a startup that grows globally.
By: Manuela A. Torres Florez
Tags: Work, Growth, Perspective, Startup, Growth Mindset

What is the first thing when you think about “work”?

From my perspective, It is the opportunity to achieve all our goals and dreams, to have a chance to grow as a person and be better, and to challenge ourselves every day while we impact people’s lives and do our bit to build a happier world.

Then, what means work for you?

If you have never asked yourself that question, I invite you to ask it (because if you don’t know, how would you know your path is).

When you create a startup, you have a big responsibility to your people and the world (yes, the world) because many people follow you. They are waiting for you to point the way. You are the lighthouse to them.

And more importantly, ask yourself what your startup is bringing to the world? If the answer is anything, so what is the purpose of your startup?

1. Change your mindset about work.

Sometimes when people ask, “what do you want to do for a living?” I always answer that I want to be part of something that creates a better place every day, a job with meaning. Of course, some people say “well, how will you do that? That is not going to pay your bills; this is not how the world works. Come back to reality and get down off that cloud and start to think about gaining money…”

Probably you’ve heard that, right?

At some point in our life, we start assuming that the end goal of life is to get a job regardless if we like it. The important thing is to “get money to pay our bills” and, sometimes, in your 50’s, you will “earn enough money, or you will finally retire to rest and achieve your personal goals”.

Is this our best way of living our life? Have a job to have some money to sustain our physical needs and wait if we can probably reach our purposes? Is this the only way?

And for me, I think, on the contrary, they are the ones who do not live in reality. I believe our jobs it’s not only to sustain us; it is the perfect way to feel we are contributing to something big, something with value. It’s to feel inspired, feel safe, grow, and become a better person every day, and I know this is possible because I’m living it!

Let me tell you about my experience working with Getmipulpa, a startup that cares about the people.

When I came for the first time, it blew my mind. For a start, the essential thing for Getmipulpa is the people. They think they need to contribute to the world and the people who surround us. Their primary focus is to bring joy and happiness to every house in the world, and what I love most is we share the same idea we believe our jobs should give meaning to our lives.

As a startup, we create our own rules and fulfill our standards because we imagine a new and better world when people enjoy their works and feel fulfilled in their lives every day. We like to think we are contributing to the creation of a happier world. And we are aware that if we want this change, we have to start within ourselves first. We have to change our mindset and begin to act. We all are a community where we care for each other. We grow together as a person and, of course, as a company.

We don’t worry about profits. We worry about the people and how we impact their lives.

2. Work with a cause. Give the people a purpose.

When you share a purpose so important that you know this will change people’s lives, you are given a mission to your people, which allows us to contribute to building a better world. This mission will enable us to be more focused because we know our work is so vital that no one else will do it if we don’t do it. It’s to give a purpose to fight for.

Like Simon Sinek said, “A just cause is what inspires us to want to keep playing.”

Give your people something to believe, let them know that they are so indispensable to impact, and create a better world and better lives. And of course, it’s crucial to continue the legacy because it’s the only way you know your work is not a waste of time. After all, what do you do and your people today it’s the first step to a long way to fulfill a new world’s ideas. We are playing in an infinite game.

At Getmipulpa, I trust we are changing people’s lives. We believe in a world when people have healthy nutrition and also a healthy mind. Our mission is to move the health of thousands of people across the globe smoothly at a time. We want a better world, and we know that it is possible through a sustainable ecosystem, and we achieve this by supporting the small farmers in the cities.

We are here to make people happier, healthier.

3. Build from resilience

Stop pressure to demonstrate constant high-speed growth. When we care more about profits than our cause, we would prefer to sacrifice anything to make a profit, even our meaning, our reason; and, this in the short term will probably bring economic benefits. Still, it will be catastrophic for a long time. Because the profits always are output, it’s not a cause, it’s a result. When we always focus on winning, we don’t look at the big picture because we are building to have stability. In other words, it’s to remain the same, it’s not prepared to be unpredictable, and we are in a world whose foundation is unexpected.

“A company built for resilience is a company that is structured to last forever.”-Simon Sinek

When you start to build your startup from resilience, you stop worrying about numbers and begin to embrace your cause. And when you face an unexpected situation, for example, a pandemic, you will surf the waves and not try to stay afloat.

And you may be asking yourself, a startup like Getmipulpa, how is it being built from resilience?

The pandemic enlightened us. We didn’t see the epidemic as a problem. We saw it as an opportunity to reach 210 countries globally, and we took advantage of it. We went off script, and we created a program for our young professionals to help them achieve their dreams and goals, have the experience of meaningful work, and help us bring happiness and reach every corner of the world.

It is incredible, right?

Let me tell you more.

We make the “city ambassadors’ program.” We want to help young people to have experience in a global startup because we believe it’s an opportunity to practice everything you have learned in college. We thought it is the best way to internalize everything you have learned. For us, it is the best way to help develop young people.

And while some people have struggles and trying to survive, we managed to expand in more countries and every time increases the quantity, and all this is possible because we don’t worry about numbers. We all care about our cause; that is our lighthouse, and more importantly, we believed in our people; without them, we would not be here. We build from resilience.

“Great leaders are the ones who think beyond “short term” versus “long term.” They are the ones who know that it is not about the next quarter or the next election; it is about the next generation.” -Simon Sinek

4. Always ask yourself, “what’s best for us,” but don’t “what’s best for me.”

From my perspective, I think this is the problem we have today. We are always getting our benefit, no matter if we hurt others. We are still trying to achieve their personal goals with fewer regards to the effects. But we have to think in community, “what’s best for us” is to think about how my decisions impact the people, my city, the economy, the country, and the world. It’s to think together.

Remember your startup, business, or company; it’s not only built for you; your people make it.

In the past we days, I have been working on understanding better what our ‘archetype’ is, what gives meaning to our company, to our people, and we choose “community” because we believe in the people. We support each other. We are growing together. Our way to work is without hierarchy. All our coworkers are like family. And we know Getmipulpa is the people.

A great example of this is Getmipulpa’s “City ambassadors’ program” was founded because we believed Getmipulpa is a place when anyone is welcome. We are working to make a better world, and we know we can’t do it alone. That’s why we invite people worldwide to build this company because we believe we are building a startup by the people for the people. We empower our people and ask them to do a company with us.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. -Confucious

Let me tell you that since I got on Getmipulpa’s team, I have not worked a single day. On the contrary, I have lived, I have impacted people’s lives, and as a result, we have grown worldwide.

This is how we do it in Getmipulpa; a startup committed to creating a better world where people are our first focus.

What about you?

Do you work with a purpose?