In the midst of a Kickstarter campaign for Toasted, a project which celebrates female entrepreneurs, I’m reminded of what it takes to start a new venture: a lot of guts. No matter what kind of venture you start (blog, project, or company), there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that takes place.
Before you get started you might be afraid to fail, or even worse, get started and then be afraid to continue pushing forward. We’ve all had fear stop us in our tracks at least one point or another. Perspective is what always keeps me looking ahead instead of behind. In my opinion, it’s always better to have a life full of ‘oh wells’ rather than ‘what ifs.’ If you don’t put yourself out there, how will you know if something is going to be successful or not?
The opinions of others really don’t matter; we’re just conditioned to think that they do. If by chance things don’t work out as planned, use it as an opportunity to learn from it. You’ll learn a lot about yourself and others in the process. It might even lead to other opportunities you didn’t know existed.
When you get started on a project you’ve got big plans. But then reality steps in and hits you like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden you find yourself juggling a full-time job, a social life, and a new venture that demands a lot from you. It’s really important to set expectations around time and how long things are going to take. Don’t put off tasks until you think you have time (trust me, you’ll never have enough!). Instead, work on something a little every day. Thirty minutes a day doesn’t seem like much, but it’s better to do a little bit of something than a whole lot of nothing. It will keep you connected to your venture and over six months time, you’ll have a lot more show than if you just opted to wait for the “right” time.
Companies like Angry Birds make it look easy, don’t they? Wrong. What looks like an overnight success was actually eight years in the making. For many companies, even longer. It’s tough to wrap your head around eight years because that’s practically a decade, but it’s reality. Don’t expect things to happen over night. There is only hard work, dedication, and a bit luck. Think big but build small ladies, and you will get there!
Nichole Ciotti speaks about her project Toasted. Watch the video here:
