After 15 years in the entrepreneurial space, I’ve constantly come back to wanting to be at the intersection of meaning and creating value for the customers I hope to serve.
I took a lot of bumps and dumps along my path. Here are 10 things I wish I had known when I first started down my path of meaningful entrepreneurship at 30.
1. Prioritize your people.
You know who your people are.
Don’t seek people because you feel the pressure of their status or fame or bank account or salesmanship — let it be what’s below the surface of the person you want to work with.
Entrepreneurs use phrases like find your tribe, build your culture, or choose your team wisely. But this really just means find people that fit your value system, get your sense of humor, and like working with you.
And if you don’t know them yet, know they’re out there. Keep looking in the cracks and crevices of places you enjoy being and learning about. At the local startup incubator or accelerator. On LinkedIn with creators and thought leaders like Matt Gray, Sahil Bloom, and Ben Meers.
Why should you prioritize being with your people?
Because they will compound the happiness, joy, and productivity of your entrepreneurial thing. They will make the mundane bearable. They will help you cross bridges you didn’t see. They will collaborate to finish the quarterly rocks. These people make small moments meaningful or funny or better, and they’ll keep teaching you things you never paused to think about.
When it comes to being an entrepreneur — understand the effect of creating value is never as much fun when it’s done in a vacuum with the wrong people.
My advice: Go slow. Work hard. Have dialogue. Enjoy team meetings. Your people should help you detach your ego and do what’s best for the customers you serve.
2. Commune with nature
Barefoot. Grass. Sunrise. Sunset. Get your toes muddy and fingernails dirty from time to time. Nature comes from the ultimate source of what is. It’s the boon of ideation and creativity and iteration.