Someone said life is full of challenges, I agree and more so if you are a start-up entrepreneur. There are ups and downs every single day, a long lost situation may bring in a winning moment and things turn upside down, and a foregone win could be lost in split of a second and you feel completely lost.
During the roller-coaster ride of entrepreneurship, you need that last drop of inspiration you can have to keep yourself going when you are low and if you are on a high you need to be sure that your feet are grounded, after all things change pretty quickly at a startup.
For me inspiration comes from quotes from pop-culture and other business leaders as well as my past experiences. Here are a few quotes which I have compiled and which I look up to everyday for inspiration. These essentially make it easier for me to discipline myself and keep me motivated. I share these quotes with you hoping that they will help you the way they help me.
“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” ~ Henry Ford
“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” ~ Henry Ford
Believe in yourself. A Startup entrepreneur has to believe in his or her vision, if you doubt your vision you are doomed to fail. A positive mindset with will help you achieve positive results. When you start up, you essentially start with an idea, believing it will yield you great results. There are times when the results are discouraging, but you need to believe in your idea and keep working, self-doubt is a one way ticket to failure.
Do or do not, there is no try. ~ Yoda
Give your 100%. I must admit I am not a Star Wars fan, but this quote is just too powerful to ignore.
When you are a part of a start-up, you are required to put in super human efforts to achieve the collective goals. You need to be committed, 100% to the vision of your company, and this by no means is easy.
I do not intend to look down on trying, but trying should not be the mindset that you run a company. You do not start a company to try and make a product, or try to sell something or try to be successful. You start a company to sellyour product, to deliver the best, to be successful.
Steve Jobs rightly said “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” So be sure that you commit yourself to make that little dent of yours in the universe.
Either there are reasons, or there are results.
Do or do not, there is no try. ~ Yoda
Take responsibility. This one is a gem and my favorite, when I started my career my manager drilled this into me. He taught me the importance of delivering results and being responsible for the tasks assigned to me.
The world is extremely competitive, and to reach the top in this world you need to deliver. You cannot make excuses and expect to succeed. If you are unable to deliver, your competitor will.
There are constraints in every work environment, but a real winner is the one who takes responsibility of the tasks/goals/deliveries and rises above the constraints to deliver results. And at a startup you need these winners who are responsible and result oriented; otherwise you will either end up failing or worse, end up having mediocre success.
“If you can laugh together, you can work together” ~ Robert Orben.
Have fun at work. This is about the team. Startups have their phases of high intensity, pressure and tensions, and it is in these situations that the team seeks support among themselves. As a startup leader, you need to ensure that the work environment in your company is relaxed and everyone in the team is friendly with each other.
At our company, we celebrate all our successes whether big or small, that really keeps the team together. These small celebrations help us in two ways; it gives some respite from the constant pressures and also helps all team members to know each other better.
I also believe work environment at a startup should be open and transparent. Team members should be allowed to express their opinions and share their ideas without fear of being judged. Such an environment ensures that people help each other out in case of any issues and share responsibilities.
“It’s more difficult to stay at the top than to get there.” ~ Mia Hamm.
Stay grounded. When you achieve success at a startup, you suddenly become the talk of the town; all the hard spent hours figuring out solutions or cracking a tough customer is finally paying off. You certainly want to savor the moment and you should definitely enjoy it.
“It’s more difficult to stay at the top than to get there.” ~ Mia Hamm
As a team you are performing well and confidence of the team is hitting the roof. It is now that you need to ensure that confidence of the team doesn’t turn into over confidence. You still need to work as hard and keep the momentum going continuously. You do not want all your hard earned success to turn into nothing because you stopped listening to your customers or because you stopped checking developments from your competitors. A moment of slip up can take you back to square one.
As an individual and leader of the start-up the quote is even more relevant, there will be times when you are doing pretty well compared to your colleagues. At this time it is important that you keep on working hard and make sure that your colleagues do not feel left out. You need to lead from the front, and also need to keep your team moving along with you.
In the end I would like to quote from Bhagvad Geeta
“कर्मणयेवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि।“
“You have a right to perform your prescribed action, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty.”
Enjoy the startup journey.
Very inspiring!