Anyone who is or has talked to an entrepreneur will know that entrepreneurship is hard slog. It might seem exhilarating on paper – but in the flesh, it can be exhausting and demoralising.
Despite this, I can guarantee you one thing – entrepreneurship will teach you a lot about yourself, and a lot about the world. As a fellow budding young female entrepreneur, I’d love to take a moment to share what I’ve learnt through my journey in the hopes that some of it will resonate as you go through your very own. And if you’d like, I’d love for you to share in return!
Before we jump into this dialogue, a bit about me:
I describe myself as a ‘social and environmental entrepreneur’. Pressing wicked problems are what drive me to wake up and stay up; entrepreneurship is the vehicle through which I am committed to generating, facilitating and scaling (attempts at) solutions to these problems.
To date, my training ground has been New Zealand’s not-for-profit landscape and fledgling social enterprise sector. I am: co-founder and board chair of education social enterprise The Learning Collaborative; a trustee and former CEO of youth anti-poverty movement P3 Foundation; a former senior manager at Engineers Without Borders NZ; and a trustee of the Aotearoa Youth Leadership Institute.
I’m 22 years old and still can’t cook to save myself (but I’m damn good at washing dishes, if I may say so myself). I inhale coffee and tea, and am that person that everyone always sends articles to on ‘why sleep is important’. I’ll be the first to admit that I am inordinately inadequate for most roles that I take on – ‘fake it until you make it’ has just about gotten me through, but I have tripped up and failed in more weird and wonderful ways than you would care to read about.
But enough with the babbling. The following are 5 of the most surprising / useful / relevant learnings that I’ve picked up on my entrepreneurial and leadership journeys so far. Hopefully this is of some use to you wonderful humans out there!
[1]: Work hard to know your stuff (but be comfortable with what you don’t know)
As an entrepreneur – and a young, female one at that – the reality is that you’re going to find yourself in a position of needing to prove something to someone. The power dynamic plane doesn’t tend to tip in your favour – more often than not, the person you’re meeting, negotiating with or pitching to will consciously or subconsciously doubt the value that you can bring to the table.
Don’t be put out when this happens, or fret about why this happens – otherwise you’d never get anywhere. Instead, there are two key things you can do to build their confidence in you.
Firstly, and rather simply – know your stuff. Study up on the people you’re meeting with; put thought into your opinions on discussion points; premeditate how you’d like to frame a particular conversation and what objectives you’d like to achieve. Go in well-prepared – there’s no excuse for you to not be.
Secondly – and crucially – acknowledge and be comfortable with what you don’t know. This took me a while to get used to – I tried to fudge my way through areas where I lacked the experience or knowledge, convinced that this was better than appearing ignorant. I’ve since learnt that it is, in fact, far more convincing (and honest!) to be upfront about gaps in your knowledge or skill-set. Self-awareness is far more important and respected than any given expertise.
[2]: Surround yourself with people who are better than you
My personal take on what makes an effective entrepreneur is that they are, more often than not, strategic generalists. Their expertise isn’t that they’re a specialist in [insert substantive field here] – it is that they are phenomenal at attracting and seeking specialists who can do a particular job far better than they ever could. The job of the entrepreneur thus becomes one of weaving together skilled individuals into agile teams that create value, and delivering this value to those who want and need it.
A quick tip: mould your hiring process to spot genuine talent (instead of ‘CV’ talent). I’m a fan of being at the forefront of recruitment where possible, and tend to stylise interviews as a strategy chat with a potential co-founder. This means that instead of following traditional interview questions, I tend to do things like: lay bare a strategic challenge and soundboard solutions with the candidate; coach the candidate through a personal insecurity or goal; or run a rapid brainstorming session in response to a recently identified market gap. It’s in these genuine, raw settings that I find it easiest to spot the talent and personality that I want on my team, far more so than in a standard interview setting.
[3]: Prepare to react to the unforeseen
I love well-laid plans as much as the next micro-attentive structure freak. Frankly, spontaneity makes me uncomfortable, and my risk tolerance tends to be moderate on good days, conservative by default.
One of the things that I thus find most challenging yet inevitably necessary in entrepreneurship is reacting to the unforeseen. When I say the ‘unforeseen’, I mean unplanned events that come in all shapes and sizes – from classic ‘market’ problems like a dearth of demand to more left-field surprises like the sudden resignation of a team member. They may be opportunities, threats, disappointments, or sheer confusions – and they will undermine your plans slightly if you’re lucky, conclusively if you’re not-so-lucky.
Before you ask – yes, the unforeseen is inevitable, and yes, you have to react to it. My best advice on this front is twofold. Firstly – assume that it’s going to happen, and get pumped. Unforeseen events are almost always invitations to pivot your venture to a better position by revealing unknowns that you now know – and given that they’re inevitable, you might as well embrace them with open arms. Secondly – plan how you’re going to react to the unplanned. Don’t laugh – this isn’t just because I love planning (maybe only a little). By having in place a pre-meditated process by which rapid assessment and decision-making can take place, you’ll be in a better position to react in a calm, collected and effective manner.
[4]: Be aggressive about seeking feedback
This point really applies to any area of your life, whether personal or professional. My belief is that feedback is one of the best gifts one can ever receive, so we should be stoked at every opportunity we have to receive it. A couple of rules of thumb have guided my personal feedback seeking process:
- Seek it habitually: make it a habit to follow-up after notable conversations, key presentations or significant interactions. The more frequently you do it, the less awkward it gets and the more valuable the cumulative results.
- Reflect before asking for feedback, and be specific about how you ask for it: before sending that email off to request for feedback, spend some time thinking about how you personally felt during the occasion. What did you feel insecure about? What unexpected reactions did you get that you couldn’t explain? Based on this introspection, frame your request for feedback within these targeted themes to make it of maximum value to you, as well as easier to deliver for them.
- Be conscious about what you take on board: The flip-side to consistently seeking feedback is that one can often get overwhelmed – I certainly was, particularly when feedback from different people conflicted or demanded distinctly different behavioural shifts. It’s important to learn which pieces of feedback to take on board, and how to interpret feedback with a healthy grain of salt.
[5]: Start somewhere (but remember that somewhere doesn’t mean you’re ‘there’)
When it comes to tackling wicked social and environmental issues through entrepreneurship, thinking about what you’re trying to achieve can often be overwhelming. How on earth are you going to be able to address all of the root causes of the issue whilst quenching all of the symptoms and all of the collateral repercussions – all on a shoestring budget and within a financially sustainable model?
I know this feeling well, and can sympathise with those of you who feel inklings of paralysis every so often – it can be exhausting just thinking about the scale and complexity of the issue, much less trying to devise a meaningful solution to tackle it. To overcome this, my personal mantra is crudely reductionist: just start somewhere. Pick a low-hanging fruit solution and operationalise it. Starting somewhere helps you get into the market and familiarise yourself with the dynamics of the problem – therein enabling you to move towards incrementally better strategies, products and/or services to tackle the issue more effectively and efficiently. Don’t wait for the perfect solution to emerge (it won’t) – but also don’t forget to continue to strive for better solutions, continuously and tirelessly. Whilst a starting point is better than none, remind yourself that your starting point is not your end-point.
That’s it from me! Final note: I am always eager to hear from new and interesting people (i.e. you) so if there’s anything you want to chat about, ask of me, or give me feedback on, you’re welcome to reach out anytime.