Mental Health vs Ambition?
My lowest point mentally was in Summer 2014. I had to fire my entire team when we couldn’t raise any more money for our startup. We went from 2 million visitors a month and a full team to no staff, just me and two part-time writers.
I think this was the period I stayed in my apartment the most, I like to think I was working hard on my laptop but looking back I was completely burned out and producing very little.
It got to the point where I couldn’t look at a single email, and was watching American TV shows morning noon and night to avoid doing work. (At a time when I had no chance I’d be visiting America, the thing I wanted most in life)
As I write this, I’m tryna think “What was the one moment I changed? It would be really good writing if I can add a dramatic “but then I realised…”
Umm, nothing’s coming.
Honestly, my system for Twitter got me to cash money real fast after that which held for 18 months of stacking cash across agency work (and got the leads through public speaking, eventually)
Without that bit of secret sauce, I don’t know where I’d be now.
It’s not my gimmick or something I say as it’s catchy- If you have a secret sauce (and it can lead to sales) you can get basically everything else wrong.
If your company is at an early stage and you try to do the things everyone else is doing, the odds are stacked against you
(If you’re later stage, Facebook ads can save you, but they are still a hard thing to get right, but at least it’s a linear path)
So — mental health
I often get slated for recommending people work hard (even in my Berlin post yesterday)
The way I see it
Waking up two hours before you have to go to work
Commuting in seriously stressful conditions stressing that you can’t be five minutes late
Sitting next to and having to work with people you otherwise would never talk to
Not enough money to travel, buy nice things, or whatever you want, with no raise in sight
Having only one source of income so if you lose your job you’re suddenly facing losing your house/livelihood
Not seeing your kids/partner all day until you come home knackered at night, for almost the entire week
For most people, needing heavy booze at weekends for whatever reason to de-pressurize from the above
For 50 frickin’ years
Is INSANE to me
Entrepreneurship is tiring, extremely hard
Most of us take how awesome it is for granted, then it randomly hits you,
like a little while back I said to my Mum:
“How many people you know make $10,000 in an hour in their pyjamas?!”
It’s hard on the head, maybe
But we should ALL count our blessings that the internet has allowed us to do this for a living
I’d guess 80%-90% of us wouldn’t have been able to do this even 20 years ago
Work Hard
Use the growth hacks and systems
Be thankful
Have Fun
Share this post if you’re grateful the internet has allowed us to be freer than we would be without it 📲
