Lean it if you mean it — An Entrepreneur’s Journey
So, can you make it? Can you be better, do better & die better?
Roughly 2 years ago, I was just contemplating about life goals, success, riches, Hawaii, lambos… Let’s just say, a couple of “standard” things. How to reach those riches that everybody is buzzing about?
On the search for answers
At the time I was reading a lot about entrepreneurship, startups, businesses, product management and the usual hustle, so to say. You can see a lot of blogs, articles, websites and books on the web covering those topics. It is what the Business & IT world actually revolves on. There is also a number of frameworks and methodologies in there that describe THE BEST way to lead a company or a startup in some situation and a specific environment/industry.
You might be thinking now: “Okay, fair enough, but get to the fucking point dude…”
So, the question I had among all those thoughts was: “Are any of these startup frameworks and methodologies applicable in the daily life of a person?” Methodologies like Waterfall, SCRUM, Lean? Agile in general?Chaos Theory???
Could it even be applicable?
After all, if you take the definition of a startup which is: “a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty”, you can really easily correlate that definition with a person’s life, especially a young person. Especially a young entrepreneurial individual. (Hmm, who would that be…) I mean, you are, after all, trying to deliver your services, work, knowledge, health, love, wellbeing to the world (for the lack of a better word) while under conditions of extreme uncertainty…
To get back on the question I had, I was heavily influenced by the Lean Startup Methodology from Eric Ries that I have been reading and applying to a startup that I co-founded. So I was thinking, what if a person would try the lean approach in usual daily life?
For those of you who don’t know about Lean Startup, it is: “A set of principles that provide a scientific approach to creating and managing startups and getting the desired product to customers’ hands faster. The Lean Startup method teaches you how to drive a startup-how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It is a principled approach to new product development.”
The specific key point that I wanted to take from Lean Startup is something that Eric Ries called Validated Learning. It is a process in which one learns by trying out an initial idea and then measuring it to validate the effect. Each test of an idea is a single iteration of a larger process of many iterations whereby something is learned and then applied to succeeding tests.
Getting to the point
I embarked on a quest exactly on 26th of June 2015 to test out the famous lean startup approach and apply it; not at a single startup project, but at living the life, the entrepreneurial life. This eventually grew into a book that I conveniently named Lean it if you Mean it — An Entrepreneur’s Journey.
It was a rigorous 50 days of trial & error with several reflects later in the year so the book actually covers a period of almost one year from 26th of June 2015. In that period, I literally organized my life on three Main Objectives. Those were:
A Startup project — a side project alongside my daily job that I wanted to grow and turn into a startup
Education — learning new things that would accompany me in being better on the main objectives and “know-how” in particular
Lifestyle — organization of time, health, fitness and nutrition
However, the real thing that comes into play here is the Validated Learning aspect. I suddenly switched my daily routine and pumped it with so many activities that the only way I could go forward was to constantly give myself feedback, iterate and then execute on various ideas and activities I was doing. In that process I also had to disregard those that weren’t giving a measurable effect. I was writing to myself daily, and then big weekly reports on Sunday to see if I’m going in the right direction and that everything makes sense. (at least to me)
It was a story full of joy, anger, little wins, big wins, fuck ups, regular everyday problems and sleep deprivation. It was a story of straight talk, real events and no bullshit.
Getting to the key point
The key point of getting to the point is yes, you can apply some startup strategies and concepts in your life, But as in every business, company, startup or project, a theoretical framework will most likely never be implemented to the fullest. Everybody, whether a person or a business, has those unique things and situations that require you to adapt the key points from a framework and work around it until you find that “golden section” that works the best for your everyday life!
So in my journey, I coined my own methodology which I named The Battle Matrix Methodology. Soooo COOOL! (you wish Klanc…) Check it out on my website and see if it that is something that you would like to try out.
To sum up this whole piece, I’ll just say this: the leaner the better. Just start the hustle. It’s all there really is. Either you will decide you’re going to change something or you won’t. Simple fucking truth.
If you are interested in how my story and journey went, have a look at my book (<< THIS IS AN UNOBTRUSIVE CTA ) to see where I thrived and where I fucked up so you don’t have to do the same mistakes again. See you on the battlefield champs! It’s nasty out there.
Lean it just a bit more…
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