3 Strategies to Ensure Success on the Entrepreneurial Journey
Jenny Aiken, CEO and co-founder of Life Cell Marine Safety, shares her advice for maintaining your resilience on the unpredictable entrepreneurial journey.

Becoming an entrepreneur by accident or by design places you in an intense situation where you become obsessed with succeeding. There are so many pressures to manage; whether they be achieving regulatory status in a new market, finding capital to fund your growth, learning new skills as you fulfill almost all roles in your startup or just making ends meet week to week. All these pressures take their toll and we try harder and harder to be resilient. Deep down we know this is the key to survival!
The problem is that start ups often take twice as long and cost twice as much as you initially thought. This means that despite your best efforts, your resilience is tested. You become fatigued emotionally and physically. The next thing you know the worries have become all-consuming and you can’t sleep. The sleep deprivation and relentless worry as you struggle to turn your idea into a business can quite literally be overwhelming.
How do you push through? How do you find the stamina and optimism to not give up? Is everyone feeling the same? Are you going to fail?
Below are three strategies that I believe give you the best chance to survive and ensure that you have the energy and capacity to endure until you make it.
- Accept failure — For me I had to truly come to terms with the worst-case scenario so that I could let go of the worrying. If I could emotionally accept the consequences of my startup failing then I had already faced my demons. This allowed me to let go of all negative thinking and use my energy to ensure success rather than avoiding failure.
- Nourish your body & soul — The journey to success can be long and there is rarely overnight success. You are in an endurance race not a sprint, so look after yourself both physically and mentally. Take time out daily to do those things that recharge your batteries and clear your mind. It will help you survive the distance.
- Share your struggles — Often once you begin your entrepreneurial journey you start mixing in the start up community and following those that have come before you on social media. The stories are always about success, huge capital raises and amazing achievements from optimistic entrepreneurs. It is easy to feel that you are the only one struggling with the journey. If, however, you are brave enough to share your concerns and challenges with other entrepreneurs, then you will quickly find that you have common ground. Remember to every now and again, in a safe circle of colleagues, let your guard down and discuss all the challenges and difficulties. You will find that so many others are also feeling your pain and are grateful that you were brave enough to start an honest conversation, rather than just keeping up appearances.
Turning an idea into a business is brave. Being on an entrepreneurial journey is brave. Stretching yourself daily to your absolute limit, is brave. But all this bravery takes its toll. We are only human...but recognising our frailty and putting strategies in place to address these weaknesses, will help us to stay strong as we navigate the path to success.
Jenny Aiken is the CEO and co-founder of Life Cell Marine Safety which designed and developed an innovative marine safety device. Jenny is an alumnae of SBE Australia and for the past three years has been responsible for establishing commercial market interest and distribution channels domestically and internationally. Jenny is a determined entrepreneur who is driven to succeed by balancing opportunity and risk. Along with her team she intends to grow Life Cell Marine Safety globally in an effort to redefine marine safety and ultimately save lives.

