A case of entrepreneurial struggles and learnings 🌱

Having to deal with some personal struggles lately, and even panic attacks, not only scared me but also made me question myself and not trust my judgment.

At face value, this is bad, but there is also a positive aspect to the situation. In situations like that, you become more willing to listen and ask for help.

I started talking more openly both with the team and other entrepreneurs around me, asking for advice – especially from people who I trust and respect.

Personally, no matter how much I read online about creating processes, mastermind groups or having a mentor, I’ve realized that something I value much more than even 100 great articles is some good ol’ personal interaction and advice from someone I trust.

The whole “mastermind” and “mentor” things haven’t ever struck a chord with me. But now I’m realizing that maybe I’ve been wrong…

Here’s the thing, at first, taking part in masterminds or having a mentor doesn’t sound like something that many people trouble themselves with. And especially if you surround yourself with peers and not entrepreneurs who are further down the road than you.

However, then I realized that a mastermind-like scenario is taking place basically in every company. As an employee, you have your colleagues as a “mastermind group” and your team leader as the “mentor.” Everything you need in order to avoid stress and grow is generally already there. If you’re the boss, then it’s a different story. This is when you need to look for masterminds and mentors yourself.

While it is painful to accept that you can’t do everything on your own, or that you just aren’t that good with a specific task, or that you’ve simply failed, it is also a powerful moment.

Accepting that you failed frees up your mind and lets you look for help or other solutions. This combined with your learnings from the failure might just be enough to let you overcome the problem.

Thinking about that, I’ve decided to join the EO network. I’m planning to reach out more and hang out with other entrepreneurs. Not only from the same space, and not to “do business,” but to share everyday struggles, thoughts and learnings.

As my final piece of advice here; if you feel that you know what you have to do, but you also feel that you don’t have the energy to execute (or feel depressed), the first step is to accept it. Then, reach out to people that you think might help – due to the fact that they’ve likely been in a similar situation themselves.

Having a mentor and a group of entrepreneurs that understand what you are doing, the struggles you’re going through and can let you know when you’re doing something wrong can help a lot. And I don’t just mean praising each other, but being honest and calling each other out on stuff that’s not right and how to change it.

Being a lone entrepreneur who’s taking on the world is a nice dream, but it probably won’t work out in the long run. Working together with others is a much better situation to be in. 👍