When Founders lose interest in their startups
Editor's note: Entrepreneurs are one of the most excited community and are always on their toes with the sparkling hope in their eyes. But they're humans after all. When the chips are down, entrepreneurs look for hope and if they don't find it, their interest might start waning...Be true, you don’t like working for your startup anymore!
This is exactly what happened to me few months back and thanks to which many people are still under the illusion that I am plain lucky to get work! But this was not always the case, I come from the same breed of the first time entrepreneurs who have worked more, slept less, lost touch with most of the sane friends who believe life is more important than work. Then one day I realized that I had stopped waking up with a zing and work was not interesting anymore. So here goes my journey and things which made me come back to reality and the feeling that yes this is what I wanted and this is what I shall have:
Have a conscience: “There are people who have shown confidence in me and are working with me even though I have not been able to provide swanky offices and perks which corporate are able to.” This nagging feeling is all you need to force yourself into looking at the rosy picture. Hey! We are entrepreneurs and looking at the brighter side is in our DNA.
Give Communication a Break: Switch off all mode of communication to the world for a week and then come back. You will feel lost and ignorant especially on the topic you secretly used to think you were an expert and that, my friend, is not a place to be in for an entrepreneur.
Ask for Help: Before you go out shouting I need help. Evaluate the reasons why exactly you are in the state you are. Is it the that the success you envisioned not happening or the monotonous routine you have managed to create? For me, I was clueless how to take my company from point A to point B and that is when I went ahead and asked for help. Since I do not have an official mentor the only person who I have seen working and progressing as an entrepreneur is my Dad. It’s interesting to know what amazing insights you get from people who have been doing what we are trying to create for so long. For him it was “family” and “peer pressure” which keeps him moving. For me, I realized it is ambition and freedom. I can never forget the importance of these two words, in fact they even have found a place on my office billboard. “AMBITION” and “FREEDOM.
This exercise also made me realize one important thing, having a mentor is important and when you experience a mood swing, a slap on your back does wonders.
Find a lover and an enemy: You need a lover to spend money on and an enemy to ask you and tell you that you suck. When you know you need to go out on expensive dates, buy good clothes to impress, you find ways to make money and for us entrepreneurs, our startup is the place where we will find money. Now the more important part, how will you gauge success unless you have set goals and deadlines. It’s a good idea to have someone you can compare yourself with? We need to set targets and references of success stories in our sector. As they say visual effect is always better than words.
In short it’s important to be in a relationship to take all the pressure off you and you need to have competition to put the load back on.
Revisit the past: You were good at what you did and that is why you are doing what you are doing. In the past people must have applauded you for your great work, your do or die attitude or your thought process. There is no harm in dreaming about that time. When you will be nostalgic, you will realize what you are missing and missing that for something like sleep or staring at the ceiling is not the thing to do. Call me self obsessed but I save all the praise mails/messages even DMs saved just in case I am in that state again.
We are entrepreneurs and we just don’t dream. We dream to make them reality even if we face certain setbacks in the process.
