Every entrepreneur has a story. They’re always unique, and usually very inspiring.
Despite the differences, there’s something almost every single entrepreneurial story has in common: adversity.
To be a successful entrepreneur, you must overcome obstacles. Problems crop up weekly—or even daily. While a few people get dissuaded from these unforeseen issues and venture back to the more stable, less creative path of Corporate America jobs, the true entrepreneurs innovate, create, and push through.
Here are three lessons I’ve learned through adversity in my life.
Sometimes a Big Leap Takes a Little Push
At this point, my story of creating MindStir Media is not breaking news. I’ve told it before, but as a refresher, here’s a quick summary:
I had an office job—one that I had thought I always wanted. Then, one day my boss announced that we’d be closing the office, so we were all to be jobless very shortly thereafter. Thankfully, I’d recently released my debut novel, which I self-published, and it was successful enough that I decided to explore the possibility of building my own publishing company from the ground up.
At the time, it seemed crazy. Sure, I was qualified to go get another good job with another office, and any financial adviser would have told me to do that. If nothing else, get a stable job while growing my company.
I didn’t. I went all-in on MindStir Media, and while there were many restless nights and lots of stressful days in the early going, ultimately I couldn’t be more pleased with where the company is today and where it’s headed. That said, there’s a good chance none of that would have ever happened without being forced to try it.
In other words, always be on the lookout for ways to turn your “problems” into possibilities.
Adversity Can Spark Your Biggest Success
How do you learn to ride a bike? The tried-and-true method, for better or worse, is by crashing your bike.
Just like you’ll never learn to ride well without skinning your knees, you’ll never thrive as an entrepreneur without picking yourself off rock bottom a time or two. Those are the scars that build character and teach lessons.
I started MindStir Media with around $700. No, I didn’t forget a zero in that number. Just $700! There were lots of times I looked at my balance sheet and felt the shadows of doubt creeping up behind me.
So how’d I get through it?
Three things I learned:
- Determination – simply refusing to give up on the dream.
- Great Support – surrounding yourself with people who aren’t afraid to call it as they see it, but will also back you 110% in times of need.
- Resourcefulness – always thinking two steps ahead, then having three backup plans for when that fails.
Apply those three traits to your entrepreneurial life and you’ll never run into a roadblock you can’t navigate.
Constantly Improve
The other major area of adversity was simply lacking subject expertise.
In the early days, I had no experience running a self-publishing company. Never had I worked for one, and it wasn’t exactly anything I’d spend my life preparing to do, but I had my own successful book that I could use as a baseline.
That said, if you’re willing to constantly improve your expertise in a field, the internet is an incredible resource. There’s always somebody online who has already mastered skills you’re trying to learn, and you can always use their resources.
I did a lot of research online during the early days, which has led me from novice self-publisher who was publishing my own books to expert who has helped thousands of authors.
Some people believe it’s a weakness to admit you don’t know how to do something. Get away from that line of thought. Instead, always approach problems with a mindset of I don’t know how to do that… yet.
And for the skills you don’t have time to learn, you can always find talented people around you with whom you can work. Entrepreneurialism is not an individual sport.
Conquer Adversity!
Ready to put these ideas to the test? Have your own you’d like to share with me? Let me know on Twitter at @authorjjhebert.