How do I prepare if I want to start my own company?
My take: Most people are wildly unprepared for this journey.
This is part 3 of 4 of a series called “Sharpening the Blade”
In case you missed it, here’s part 1, and 2.
Are you prepared to work harder than you've ever worked?
Are you prepared to be stretched?
Are you prepared to be uncomfortable?
Are you prepared to start at zero?
Are you prepared to be a 'nobody' again?
Are you prepared to be pulled in 10 different directions and they are all overwhelming?
Are you prepared to look like you don't know anything?
Are you prepared to make mistakes that will cost you months?
Are you prepared to learn more than you've learn while you were in school?
Are you prepared to lose money?
Are you prepared to lose sleep?
Are you prepared to lose relationships?
Are you prepared to have very little to show for your work after 12 months?
Are you prepared to have bystanders discourage you?
Are you prepared to stand your ground to believe in what you are doing when no one else will support you?
Are you prepared to take the time to understand people?
Are you prepared to ask for help?
Are you prepared with a strong enough reason to persist when everything looks like it's about to crumble? Do you have a strong 'why' to pursue all of this?
Are you prepared to motivate yourself when no one else will?
Are you prepared to manage your own freedom and create your own schedules and tasks?
Are you prepared to sacrifice your quality of life for a few years to reap the rewards 10 years down the road?
Are you prepared to move forward with no guarantees?
If you are crazy enough to have said "yes" to most of those questions, you are more than half way there.
I have heard it said:
Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't.
If you'd like to know my story behind these questions, I shared one of my greatest struggles in my ventures in entrepreneurship so far, here:
This answer was originally published on Quora and had over 26,000 views.
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