My first draft of this blog post was full of the tips and tricks I devised while launching my business: pack your lunch so you can spend your noon hour in meetings, use the hidden minutes while your dinner is cooking to answer emails, etc. It was about hard work and it was about time, but here’s the thing: building a company has very little to do with hard work or time.
During my childhood, then high school, and onto college I learned that productive work is tedious and painful. I came to the realization that hours spent, return achievement in equal amount. That mentality only accelerates in life, especially if you move to a place like New York where busy is cool. A place where “I didn’t get home from work until 11pm,” means importance, and where being tired is moving ahead.
I started my company with this mindset, more proud than frustrated that I had a day job, believing that my e-commerce site would launch within two months, because when I got home at 1am from a Belle & Sebastian concert, I promptly returned to my spot on the floor to finish a necklace for a photo shoot the next day (my studio apartment a.k.a. my jewelry studio). But no skills you’ve acquired in your life thus far – perseverance, endurance for hours in front of your computer, and topnotch organization will make your company successful.
I didn’t realize this until last Saturday. I went for a run by the Hudson river in the beautiful sun while my mind chattered, “Okay, so in ten minutes I’ll go home and if I cook some eggs really quickly, I’ll have four hours left to prep for my factory meetings on Monday, and then I can run to Duane Reade, finish my sketches…and if I get up at 7am tomorrow I can write my blog post.”
Then it hit me (big cliché but you know, that’s kind of how things actually happen), that I didn’t need to bet against reality with exact schedules and early alarms. I would complete my entire to do list and more because designing, manufacturing and building my company is what I love doing.
So if you’re starting a company while working full-time or raising kids or even if your life is wide open, all you need to do is this: remind yourself every day that you’re doing what you love. And then building your e-commerce and meeting your shipping deadlines and doing all that stuff you need to do to build a successful business? Don’t worry about it, you’ll get it done. It’s impossible not to.
And go to Staples and buy a planner. The At-A-Glance ones are particularly good.
Are you working on a new business, or launching a new product? Share your most important element to success with the Maker’s Row community in the comments!
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• Finding Balance Between Work Life and Personal Life as an Entrepreneur
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