Someone has made the effort to produce a street stencil just for us entrepreneurs. Given it is the vital ingredient, I thought I’d share it right here on startup blog.
Tag: Motivation
Validation
Validation – it doesn’t mean that we’re there, it means that it is possible.
The sentence above is an interesting one. It’s often the means for resting on our laurels. for getting ahead of ourselves.
So what constitutes market validation? Validation includes but is not limited to interest from venture capitalists, getting our startup funded, gaining good trial sales rates, being featured in the media, people blogging about us, being cash flow positive, winning business awards….
The point is, this type of recognition, is the recognition which goes with potential. That we have the potential for success. It doesn’t mean it is automatically going to occur. And if we let such validation go to our heads, true success will most certainly never arrive.
Start this file
Here’s what to do today:
First:
Start a file in your email application which says the following:
‘Mentors & encouragement’
Next:
Whenever you get an email thanking you, admiring you, or congratulating you – save it in this file.
After:
During the tough times / days / challenging periods in startup land, read these emails you have gathered over time.
They will help you battle on. Today I got one such email saying ‘I rock’ – for a little thing I did for someone. I felt really good about it. So I saved it in said file.
* This may sound egotistical, but in world full of knockers, and negativity it’s a little thing which helps us stay the course.
Startup tip
Celebrate effort, not results.
Effort always leads to results, but great results are sometimes just luck.
Quit your job
You should really quit your job on Monday. Yes tomorrow today . If you are working for a salary or wages and have no equity in the business that is.
And here’s why:
You are living someone else’s dream.
You are exchanging the days of your life to build the vision of someone else. You are not doing what you dreamed about as a child.
The reality is this: once you have a place to live and food to eat, the rest is ego. Chances are you are working in a job just to feed your ego. I know because I was this person for more than 10 years. I had jobs I didn’t like – high paying ones, to buy things I didn’t need, to impress people I didn’t care for. It’s a pointless treadmill which the government encourages to maximise consumption, generate higher tax rates and PAYE deductions and enforce control through a passive education process which says consumption equals success. We must remove this idea of the power structure from our minds and remind ourselves that real wealth is defined by the cool stuff we are doing, rather than the stuff we buy.
Quite your job, de-gear your life and do something of value. To further encourage this process I’ll leave you with one final thought I tweeted a while ago:
Cheers, Steve
[digg=http://startupblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/quit-your-job/]
I could’ve been a contender
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0waNRaz6wU]
In 10 years from now many of us will look back and thought about what could’ve been. What we could have achieved if we didn’t just take the advice of others, take ‘dives for money’. If we didn’t mortgage our careers (lives?) for corporations who didn’t give a hoot about us. If we had the guts to make tough decisions and believe in ourselves.
Our choices matter a great deal more than our level of talent does. We should make choices which will have a direct impact 10 years from now.
AFL Legend – John Kennedy ‘Do something’
This advice matters to everyone: Favour action over all things.
For the uninitiated: This speach was given by a famous football coach in Australia during an AFL Grand Final (think Superbowl / FA Cup). With passion he emplored his campaigners to just get out there and do whatever they could. The end result being a victory – or the ability to say ‘at least I had a go…’
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9db1GgNtCKw]