4 Repeated Patterns of Entrepreneurial Families
Lee la versión en español aquí.
I could say that my vocation — being an entrepreneur and working independently — is something I inherited from my family. My parents have been self-employed since before I was born. They were the reason why, today, I choose to launch my own projects and be my own boss.
I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. I had first-hand experienced each and every stage of my parents’ business. When I decided to follow the same path, I realized there were patterns that, generation after generation, are repeated in entrepreneurial families:
Working independently helps overcome obstacles
My dad never finished high school. By then, he was already working at a factory fixing electronics. The time came when he got sick of working for someone else, and started a project with a lifetime friend.
Related post: A Pencil and a Lesson
Later on, they had a fight. His partner fired him and actually ended up scamming him. My dad went into deep depression. As hard as it was, that drove him to start his own business.
My dad always tells me this story. It was a rough patch in his life but I think he owes everything he has nowadays to overcoming that moment. These are the kind of things you see as a child that get instilled into your subconscious, and which come back into your conscious mind later on.
The path I chose is a reflection of this. I chose to be an entrepreneur.
I knew that my gamble on creating something of my own could go well or badly. And, if the worst comes to the worst and the project encounters a crisis, like the one my dad faced, we have to take advantage of the situation and consider it as an opportunity to change course.
I went through a similar situation when Syrmo, one of my startups, did not reach the funding goal we had set on Kickstarter. To me, that was a very harsh failure. The situation has helped us rethink a bunch of things and better define the focus of Syrmo.
Multitasking
My parents started their business selling different kinds of labels. Like in any new project, they were in charge of doing everything: taking orders, packing and distributing products.
When an enterprise starts, it is likely you don’t want to risk capital, or the business is not big enough yet to recruit employees. Therefore, you have to take care of everything in the business, at least until you can prove that it works well enough for it to grow.
When we created Syrmo, we only had a technical team of three engineers. As we moved forward with the project, we realized we would have to distribute tasks that were beyond our areas of expertise. Over time, we learned about each part of a business and we developed ourselves as entrepreneurs.
From working at home to working in an office
As I was saying before, we entrepreneurs, start with one basic resource: Ourselves. Where at? At our homes, at a coffee shop, or at a borrowed office. It is a stage through which most of us have to go through, and this was very clear to me since I was a child.
I remember going to kindergarten and saying goodbye to my parents while they were working at home. We had a traditional PH, split into three sections: my house at the front, followed by my grandmother’s house, and my parents’ first office at the back.
As I grew up so did the company. They finally moved into an office and then into another one. Today they have about 10 employees, and they are doing pretty well.
As it turned out, the place where they currently work at was Wolox’s first office, (which is another venture I founded besides Syrmo). My parents lent me the space, an alternative place to start my project just like they did.
See also: 7 Partners: It is Possible.
Everyone supporting the business
Even though my parents were the ones running the business, the whole family was always there to support them. Ever since I was very young, I worked during the summer standing in for interns that were on holiday. Usually, I did the inventory or joined my dad in making the deliveries.
Regardless of the fact that this is a family business, in which, obviously, every member takes part in it and helps, I am certain this happens in any project. Everyone working with you wants you to succeed because this means they will also succeed.
That is Wolox’s founding spirit. Whenever we can, we help others because we understand that is how all of us can succeed. Although we are more than 7 people today, solidarity remains.
If you have a start-up, or are considering starting a project, you will see that most, if not all, of these patterns are repeated. I have had the chance to live and learn all of this since my early childhood and apply it to my start-ups. I hope all these experiences are just as useful, or even more so, to you as they were for me.
Posted by Guido Marucci Blas (guidomb@wolox.com.ar), (@guidomb).
