START UPS & THE FOG OF DAWN
The pressure to obtain, retain and achieve in that first year can be completely overwhelming. When it seems like every young start up Entrepreneur on Instagram is having the time of their life, they are jumping around in the sun, splashing about in swimming pools…earning six figures without even really seeming to put much effort in, other than use the word “Hustle” in their Instagram posts and #. Those of us who are really starting a new business can feel like totally losers, even though we know deep down that what we are seeing on those Instagram profiles is utter bollocks.
Much like advertising, those images bury themselves in our subconscious and run around screaming with blow torches in your dreams, imprinting images of the scorched office walls of your new business that has been trampled into the ground.
And then comes the inevitable down in your business, the market is are hard to read. You wonder if your idea is utter rubbish, you second guess the 24 months of hard work you have put in. The bills still arrive on the door step but clients no longer seem to want what you have after the initial hoopla of being New Business. You rack your brains for ways to change your business, you create new products, you shift your direction and …well you hope for the best, tuck your chin in and go to work.
Starting a new business can be incredible stressful. Those first two years feel like you are pushing a canon ball up a steep hill, your mind gets foggy, you work all the hours under the sun (your write blogs and articles about the stress) and you tire yourself out. If you are lucky you will be able to keep the focus on what you are trying to achieve, but most of the time you can feel like you are wobbly around like a toddler in the fog. This can lead to total exhaustion and depression if you don’ take care of yourself.
I have no answer for this, I just wanted to write this piece and let you know that I often feel like that to, but so have many others who have seen out the early storm, the FOG OF THE DAWN, and seen their business pick up and become an incredibly fruitful and sustainable dream. It can happen but those early days are the test, see them through and remember to rest.
