Sleeping in cabs between meetings was a thing, because it was the only time we got to sleep. we don’t do that anymore. sleep is for the weak. just kidding. make sure you get your 6 hours.
When my partner, Akku, and I started our agency a year ago, we had no idea which direction it would take. We used to work in the same organization and had a good working rapport. That was all we had to go on. We started our digital marketing company, Outland Circle, with virtually no savings, and no back-up plan if the business should fail.
It’s a big risk. But if you have a strong stomach and keep your focus, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We made countless mistakes and lost numerous opportunities. We practically shunned our social life. We fought, we cried and we dropped from exhaustion.
But there were some things we did right. As a young, bootstrapped entrepreneur, here are 5 lessons I want to share with you:
‘Who’ comes before ‘what’
Find the right people to work with. If there was just one thing we did right, it was to find the right person to partner with. This is the single most important reason for the continued existence of Outland Circle.
I’ve seen so many people start-up with one bright ‘idea’ and they fail, because after a few months of working, they realize they can’t work with their colleague.
Just because you agree on a common vision doesn’t mean you’re compatible as work partners. In fact, me and Akku don’t even agree on most things and if asked about our vision for the future, we’d have different answers! But the reason we work together is because our core values are principles are the same, our work ethic matches and we both relish the grind and growth. Also, we actually enjoy each other’s company outside the office!
Because of our compatibility and friendship, it doesn’t matter where our company is headed or what challenges may come our way. If we have to suddenly change direction as a company, we’d be able to adapt quickly. Our partnership is not based on skill-set and common vision alone (although that is certainly an important part of it). It’s based on mutual respect, mutual trust, work ethic and mutual liking for each other.
Go all-in, the only formula for success
If you’re not prepared to go all-in, you won’t succeed. Working for a company that you own is different from working for another company.
As an employee, your responsibility ends after a certain point. You have a defined amount of work and after that your role ends and you go home. But as an entrepreneur, your work never ends. And you can’t really pass the buck if something needs to be done.
Working for yourself means that you set your own hours, but usually that means you set more hours than any boss ever would. And you do it because it’s necessary.
The idea of being your own boss sounds attractive until you’re working day in and day out with little to show for it. We’ve said goodbye to weekends a long time ago. I remember in the initial days, after working for 3 weeks straight without a single weekend, I was asking myself, “Is this really my life now?” It was exhausting and I was struggling to fathom how I was going to have the strength to keep up that level of grind.
But over time, I got more resilient and I was able to keep working and stay focused for longer without getting too stressed. And this is a full-time commitment. A lot of people advocate the ‘side hustle’, where you’re working on laying the foundations of your business alongside having a full-time job to pay your bills. Me and Akku haven’t had a chance to do that, so I don’t really know if it’s a feasible thing, in India. And I mention India, because while the idea of the ‘side hustle’ may work in the West, I find it difficult to imagine in this country where labor laws are rarely enforced, if ever. It is considered normal for an employee getting paid for 8 hours a day to work for 10-11 hours a day. So basically, a job in India tends to take over your life, leaving you with little time or energy for a side hustle.
Learn different disciplines, have different Mental Models to solve problems
To the man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. While your specialized skill is the most important thing to base your business on, it’s simply not enough.
It’s not enough that you have a skill that you can monetize. You need a whole new set of skills, because there’s a whole new set of tasks that you need to constantly take care of.
You need to be good at time management, learn to speak with clients, learn numbers, do things like drawing up contracts and invoices. And you have to be systematic about it.
Not only this, you’ll have to learn about other fields and topics as well. Knowing only your field of specialization will get you only so far. It gives you too narrow a view of the world. Learning different fields and disciplines will let you attack a problem from different viewpoints.
When I started out, I brought with me the skill-set of a designer and artist. I could create graphics, design layouts and come up with web-comics. i wanted more. I realized that adding copy to my skills would help us create better ads and better content. So I started learning it online, I got books related to it and I started practicing by making it a point to write daily, and use the copywriting principles that I’m learning.
For this year, I’m looking to further my skills by learning more about my partner Akku’s side of the work - campaign management, content distribution, SEO and basic arithmetic.
While these are things Akku is already good at, and helps us with, I want to have a better grasp over them so that I can work more cohesively and effectively with her.
Leverage your network and personal connections
Ask for help. And don’t be shy about it. Honestly, this was a little difficult for me at first, because when I started out, friends and family were raising their eyebrows anyway (or at least, so I thought). I didn’t want to seem like I was going out with a begging bowl to them. I wanted to do it ‘on my own’. I felt embarrassed about trying to use my own connections for help in advancing my business.
Well, I quickly learnt that there was no other way to start. You have to start with what you have. We hunted in within the circle of our friends and family for leads, referrals or anything that would help us move forward. Eventually, we’d build up our own professional network.
Patience
Good things come to those who wait, all the while hustling. Are you really prepared to work day in and day out and have little to nothing to show for it?
When we started Outland Circle, we knew we were in it for the long haul. But it was after 6 months of working that it started sinking in. Now, it’s been a year and I think we’ve barely even scratched the surface of the potential of our business.
As an employee your career and income grows at a steady, predictable pace. But when you’re an owner, there is no such guarantees. It’s more like you get nothing for your sustained efforts for months and years until you hit a growth spurt. And then, maybe, maybe, if you’re good, the growth and revenue will start becoming more stable.
It’s one thing to be excited about creating something when you’re starting out. But that motivation starts wearing off real quick. After a few months of intense struggle, you’ll find that what really gets you through the day is focus and discipline.
We just completed one year in business, and are looking forward to a bigger and brighter future. I’ll be back next year with another article with deeper and sharper insights. In the meantime, leave a comment below if you found this article useful and let me know if there’s any lesson that you’d like to add to this list.