The tale of taking a chance
"You've got the brawn, I've got the brains. Let's make lots of money" -Opportunities - Pet Shop Boys
One of the regular things I get asked as a founder is "how do you keep moving forward?" Well there is no magic formula or recipe for success, and it's not quite as easy as those fantastic pop maestros would have us believe, but my opinion the most important thing is opportunities.
Greetings from New York. The Founder Labs team are out at Digital Irish Week, meeting other founders and investors in the city that never sleeps. It's a phenomenal experience for everyone involved and really boosts the founders and their businesses.
"You do so much cool stuff. How do you create these opportunities?"
It's all very easy for me to sit here, in the Bank of Ireland office at Digital Irish week in NYC typing away about opportunities when I am living them but where do you get started when you're a new founder? Well you don't start with the big ones, you start with lots of little ones and through those see them grow.
As founders we live, or should live, in a very dynamic ecosystem. It presents lots of things to us. Challenges, dramas, issues and opportunities. Challenges are real and can strike no matter where you are on your founder journey. When my last startup collapsed I felt useless. Like I had genuinely been run through the wringer and drained of all personal value. No, I am not going to say this disaster was an opportunity. It wasn't. It was terrible and there is no way to dress that up. Anyone who tells you to "turn that frown upside down" or "pull yourself up" needs to catch themselves on. Trust me, it's bollocks. What I do suggest is that you accept the pain and the experience and if you need medical or professional help you get it. I got help before my disaster (to be explained in the upcoming toxic epic post) and I needed it when the crunch came but at that point, at ground zero, I had sweet f-all in a business sense. Most of all at this point you need to take the time and rebase.
The good thing you need may not be what you would expect.
That's where the ecosystem comes in. By reaching out, helping and communicating with other people in that ecosystem you can appreciate your own value while doing some good. It may be a coffee with a new founder. It may be a call with an experienced person who needs some advice on going through what you did. It may be delivering a workshop to people who need some inspiration. These are all small opportunities that can deliver a huge amount to someone as well as yourself. In my experience, if you open yourself up to these sorts of experiences, with no expectations other than helping out you will start to get positive experiences and feedback that will help you out as well. You will make connections, friends and spark some new relationships. No expectations is a big deal though. Many people go into this looking for the instant karma and getting some tangible business goodness back. Again this isn't how it works. Be selfless and open to new things and good things will happen. Expectations are useless because the good thing may not be what you would expect or be looking for. They may be new experiences that stir your imagination and soul and give you exactly what you need rather than what you think you need.
If you are coming from a space of disaster like I did, sometimes the biggest challenge can be trust. Trusting people after being so damaged, or when you are starting out, is really hard. You may have been manipulated or abused in some way and it's hard to get out there and offer help because you are scared you may be used again.
Let's talk about consensual usage of your skills
My advice, let yourself be used. You need to be used in some way because that's where you will measure your value again. This isn't some unconsentual usage though. I am talking about using and sharing your talent, allowing someone to use your experience to help shape their own. That's a whole different world of usage. That's you adding value to opportunities you can create and that value is fuel for further opportunity growth.
So, let's summarise. If you feel used and abused. If you are questioning your value or doubting yourself and your skills. Open up to some little opportunities to give something back. Turn off your expectations and I assure you that you will feed your growth, heal yourself and get back to where you need to be. Don't feel you have to wait for a disaster either. Give back regularly and freely and you will see the world open up to you.
You've got this!
