3. You need a mentor.

I think I’ve not told you guys about my aunt before. She’s a seamstress. When she was a teen, her mother (my grandmother) took her to the best seamstress in town. She convinced the seamstress to take her on as an apprentice. Over the years, she taught my mother the trade. She taught her the technical stuff, but she also taught her how to bill, how to properly charge for her work, how to get new clients. In essence, she taught her how to earn a living. And when the day came, the seamstress gave her a few choice clients from her rolodex and told her she was ready to set up shop for herself. This is the kind of relationship you should be looking for.

Humble yourself enough to be an apprentice. Find a mentor. The good ones are hard to find and aren’t usually found at startups.