The Beginning Is Always The Hardest

WELCOME FRIENDS

This past week I’ve had at least seven people tell me about their startup dreams. All of them were at the very beginning stages of what they wanted to build, and as such, they all seemed scared and afraid and unsure of what to expect when taking the forsaken path towards a life that only a few brave souls would ever dare to take.

But the exact same theme kept on coming up over and over again.

They all wanted their startup dream to be an overnight success.

Without putting in any work and without ever having been exposed to the very disappointing and brutal reality that is startups and fortunes and online fame.

… le sigh …

When my wife and I decided to start our first business (we have two now, plus a few side gigs) we had no idea how things would work out. No money, no market research and no idea as to whether or not it will work.

Just good intentions and a lot of faith.

And because of that we had to sacrifice so so much. We moved back in with my parents, lived on less than $200 a month (crazy, right?) and didn’t see any real money come in only after two years of a lot of hard work. I was stressed out of my mind.

Often doubting whether we made the right choice.

Desperate to make a quick buck so that all of my family and friends wouldn’t think that i’m an absolute fucking failure. That was the worst part. The fact that others around you had fancy jobs while you were the crazy one chasing your dreams.

Or when you met an old friend and they ask you ‘What do you do?’ and you’re all like… ‘hmm… I like, have this startup I’m working on’… and they’re like… ‘oh, that’s cool’… but you know all too well that they are laughing at you on the inside.

But anyways.

We persevered and kept learning and kept working hard towards making it a real business that makes money, and now, thank God, I couldn’t be more blessed.

Here’s the thing.

The beginning is always the hardest.

Don’t let anyone ever convince you that it will be easy.

And if you’re just starting out, you need to know that there is absolutely nothing glamorous about this path. It’s just a lot of cold nights and a lot of hard work.

That’s all it is.

There’s no way you will make it unless you are fine with sacrificing pretty much everything and anything that you perceive as comfortable. You’re not supposed to be comfortable on this path, which is why I cringe every time I hear people tell me that they have a brilliant idea and that all it takes is some money and an investor.

As if the entire world will fall in love with you overnight.

That’s bullshit.

And this idea is dangerous and will never exist.

Money won’t solve your problems.

Because people won’t care or be able to attach themselves emotionally to you or your startup if you have money. No one cares about that. The only thing they care about is how valuable your product is to their life, how your startup will help solve a problem that they are faced with daily, or how it will significantly make them feel better about themselves… and this can only be created by the years of effort and intention you bring to the tables. Because building a product that can do any of these things takes years of experience and understanding and deserved authority.

The late nights of tears and frustrations seamlessly translate themselves into a story worth being told and shared. Your passion for your product carries it’s weight in gold when you have to explain to peers or potential customers what you or your startup does and why you’re unique. These little things add up and make all the difference.

You need to sweat, to bleed, to cry, to fight daily, to persevere, to doubt…

And through all of that, you need to have a whole lot of faith.

Faith that it will all work out in the end…

It’s a shitty place to be.

But being put in that position is necessary in order to mold you into the type of person who will do whatever it takes to make their dreams in life come true. I guess that my main point here is that startups are not easy. Yes, doing your own thing is ‘the dream’ for most people, but the last thing I want to do is to give you a false sense of hope that it’s a walk in the park. It’s not. It’s freakin hard man. And you have to be ready and willing to sacrifice it all.

That’s the key to startup success. A lot of hard work, and no guarantees.

The story of my life.

Here’s the thing.

In 2016 my goal is to become as valuable as I possibly can to those who have a hard time dealing with the things that I have personally gone through. I’ve failed so many times that it’s not even funny, and been at the beginning stages of building something more times than I can even count. I’ve learnt so much from these dramatically disappointing experiences, and continue to do so on a daily basis.

And below, are the main things that I would have told myself if I was starting out again a couple of years ago, with nothing to my name but a dream and a vision. If you’re in a similar place that I was a few years ago, then I hope this will help.

Marketing Is Your Best Friend

I’ve started so many business with no clear idea as to how I will get the word out there and get people to use my freakin product. And this was my biggest problem. And also the main reason why they failed (even if they were good ideas).

If you’re starting out, make sure to have a legitimate and realistic marketing plan in order to be able to start attracting customers as soon as (or even before) you launch.

I just can’t stress how important this is.

Define your business (service-based, software platform, digital information, whatever it is…) and figure out what you need to do in order get people to use what you make.

As an example, if you were to offer a one thousand dollar translation service, you could write a list of fifty companies who might want what you offer, and send out five emails a day for ten days. Simple marketing right there. If you’re working on an app, then define your category and see what high-profile blogs might feature you.

Never wait for your customers to come to you, as that will never happen. Take a week off to write a solid marketing plan and stick to it like your life depended on it. Marketing is everything when it comes to getting it in the hands of the people.

Side Note: Obviously there are like a million ways to market your startup, so the above are just very basic examples. Because of this, I’m working on an article titled ‘297 Ways You Should Market Your Startup To Success And Profits In 2016’. I think that it is by far the best article out there on all of the different ways you can market your startup for success. Feelfree to join my newsletter to be notified when it’s out.

It should be ready end of January.

Think Less, Do Way More

When I first started out on this journey, I would spend months thinking about an idea without really taking any action to make this idea because a solid reality. This is dangerous, as it’s fun to think about all of the success, but depressing to imagine all of the work it takes to get to where you want to be. And sometimes you can get addicted to the feeling of being able to imagine what success feels like. That’s a really bad place to be!

Instead, try to stay humble, keep your head out of the clouds and just get to work. Stop thinking and planning and scheming and just start working.

Just put in the fucking work.

Effort > Having Capital

If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn when it comes to startups and business and success, it’s that everyone will respect you and give you a chance if they see that you are putting in real effort. My wife and I get so many requests from people who want to ‘be featured’ or ‘sell their product’ on our platform without them having put in any work. All they want is a way to make a quick buck on the backs of others.

We will never be able to respect these people or take their requests seriously. On the other hand, when asked to feature an app we both knew that the founder had spent fourteen months of his life developing and working on, we were more than happy to help out. Psyched even. Because anyone who puts in mad effort and dedicates their everything to make it work, will indeed eventually succeed.

And there’s no better feeling than knowing you contributed in a small way. If you put in the effort, people will want to give you a chance. Simple.

Ideas Don’t Mean Shit

I think that I probably have a few hundred billion dollar ideas in my note pad. Pretty much everyone I know has a few billion dollar ideas.

But so what?

Ideas don’t mean shit.

Ideas on their own never manifest into products or services or startups.

That’s insanity.

When you’re starting out, you don’t need more ideas or better ideas… and as if this theme didn’t come up enough, all you have to do is put in the fucking work. A great idea will never amount to anything with poor execution, but even a shitty idea can be successful with solid execution. Focus on taking action and you’ll be fine.

Your Intention Means Everything

And last but not least, intentions really do matter.

Call it fate, or destiny, or karma, or whatever you want to call it… but having the right intentions when building your startup is more important than we care to admit. And when you’re just starting out, your intention is what will keep you going.

If you’re in it just for the money or because you want to get rich quick, you’ll end up doing whatever it takes (cheating your customers, lying to investors, making false claims) to make it happen. And these types of people are never in business for long.

What’s more, money in itself is not a big enough motivation to get you moving, especially since there won’t be any money coming in for the first year or two.

But when you approach your startup with firm intentions, with a mission that serves a purpose far greater than what any single individual could accomplish on their own, then you are setting yourself up for an adventure where you will do whatever it takes to make those intentions come true. You will be more determined. More excited.

And better equipped to take the first step to making your dreams come true, all because you have chosen yourself to be the one person out there who will finally solve the problem of whatever your intentions are set out to accomplish.

As an example, my personal intention for this blog is to create work (writing, videos, whatever) that will help re-define your greatest potential. It’s a very simple mission.

But it consumes every single aspect of the work that I do. And because I am fully aware and clear of my intention for this work, I’ve been writing for over a year without making any money from this blog. But I really don’t care because I love every second of it. Every time I started a blog for the sake of ‘making money’, I’ve never been able to maintain it for more than a month. Doing your own thing just takes way too much work, and if you’re not excited about your intention for doing it in the first place, then you’ll never have the drive to keep it up in the long-term.

…

If I could go back to a few years ago and do things differently, these are the things I would change. I would make these ideas and philosophies my top priority. I wouldn’t take back being broke.

I wouldn’t want to replace the feeling of having to choose between buying food or keeping the heater on. Of wearing the same clothes and shoes for years on end.

Because those things have made me stronger. A better founder.

More humble. A little less cocky.

The beginning is always the hardest.

And that’s a damn good thing.

Because success will only ever be handed to those who deserve it.

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