The other side of the coin: 5 not very pleasant lessons from personal startup experience.

Nowadays, for young and capable founders of startups, it has become fashionable to proudly talk about their mistakes, losses and defeats on the road to success. I understand why these stories look attractive - thanks to them it is easier for us to justify our own failures. When someone who has managed to make a lot of money sheds light on the unsuccessful start of projects and shitty decision, then this is comforting.

Judging by the standards of many people, I have not yet achieved the necessary success to write this post. I'm not a dreamer, a dream come true, or CEO. I am a pseudo-musician, a co-founder who left his job and a dreamer who does not hover in the clouds I fought with crushing defeat and depression, but I gave up more often than I should have. I have nothing to be proud of here. This is just part of my story.

1. Don't let enthusiasm blind you.

I am very sensitive to the energy and enthusiasm of other people. Being a rather quiet and cautious person, I easily pick up someone else’s crush when I meet people who are energetic and full of life.
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When I started my first business, a music management company, which we managed from a recording studio in downtown Sydney, my co-founder was a man full of energy. He was going to turn our performers into superstars, and his enthusiasm gripped me and completely blinded, not letting see the problems inherent in our business. I was so blind that I did not see the dubious deals we were making and people losing money.

When the business went bankrupt and I was left with a bunch of huge debts and a minus on a credit card, this borrowed energy evaporated, and I saw the true face of my partner. He was just a crook who used me for his own selfish purposes. After this experience, I got an unhealthy portion of bitterness and cynicism. But it also made me much wiser.

2. Never substitute anyone.

Previously, I calmly treated this and he himself sinned like that, of course. does not do me honor.

In business, to achieve my goals, I was ready to put my own needs and desires above someone else, and many people suffered because of this. When I was involved in music management, there were groups whose promotion was my task, but they lost money and good opportunities, because I just pulled everything I needed out of them, instead of wondering how I could help them. My first technology startup involved people who I then unceremoniously threw out when it came to the division of capital.

I just called to fire those whom I thought were irrelevant, without worrying about them as people.
After the company was closed, and not becoming profitable, I nullified a few more people in another business. And because of me, good and honest people suffered.

I was selfish. After that, I feel like a piece of shit. Do not substitute others - even if you live well with this, then you will realize that it is not worth it.

3. Commit yourself to the cause

At one time, I went from managing a music company and the role of a co-founder in a software development startup to a consulting business. I spent six months working part-time in the children's institution while I was writing trial compositions of dance music. I was terribly annoyed by my eternally patient partner. I did not unleash the full potential of all my projects, because halfway there I got bored and I threw them away.

If you never invest all yourselves in what you do, then you are not committed to the cause. Sometimes this means that you don’t care what you do, you only think about who it will do you. You can not spend time in order to reconsider their views and understand which way is right for you and which is not.

As the old adage teaches (we use our analogue - approx. Translator), took up the tug - do not say that it is not hefty.

This is what I understood only after I became older and more experienced. But now I'm 26, and I feel that I definitely needed to understand this much earlier. When you find a project that you are happy to work on, the best thing you can do is focus on it, give yourself to the cause and complete it. Something less will lead to one result - failure. And writing about this blog post.

4. Do not sacrifice personal relationships to work.

When I became the content marketing manager for a social media startup, it was a break with my girlfriend. This is a shitty deal - to exchange your beloved, dear person for premium and rather meager salary. I was late for meetings with her because I could sit in the office. I'm not talking about a 15-minute delay with a phone call and an apologetic "I'm running late," I mean two hours late on St. Valentine's Day, even without warning SMS.

Imagine, she did not leave me! Until now, I can not understand why she stayed with me. But I'm glad she did it.
When passions subside, when what you build will lead you to success or failure, the moment will come back. You will begin to weigh what you have lost, comparing it with what you have learned or gained. And I believe that love will always outweigh the scales.

5. Turn as you can in difficult times.

I went from managing the music business, star parties and managing a development team to working in the fast food industry for 18 months. This is a cool, absolute and shitty fall, I tell you. You can’t call an ideal situation when you fill out an online form in which you are asked why you want to join the McDonalds team instead of building your own business, which, as you thought, will exist for decades.

But I did not have money and time, but I had to pay bills. I still had great ideas (like everyone else), but without a source of profit, I simply could not bring them to life.

I plowed like Papa Carlo on several similar jobs, planning my next steps. That was not easy. But I endured, I went through it. You just have to do everything in your power to make ends meet and keep afloat. And do not bother about it.

Now I pulled myself together. Before plunging into entrepreneurship again, I focused on gaining new skills and knowledge from other people. There are companies in which I would love to work, and now I earn the respect of other people who know more than me.

I try to think about these lessons every day. These five are my morning mantra. I chase them in my head while being in the pool, on a bicycle, in the shower and tram. I think about them again and again and force myself to learn from my mistakes again and again.

Because I need it. These lessons were not enjoyable. But they are important.