Confession of an entrepreneur
Let me tell you a story. Last week, I missed workout for the whole week. I think back about all the absurd excuses that I made last week
- "I can't workout because I am travelling" (although wherever I was, I had time in the morning and evening just like other days)
- "I don't have gym where I can workout" (you don't always need a gym to workout)
- "I can do this tomorrow" (and get in good shape day after tomorrow?)
- "I am not seeing any significant result anyways" (poor me)
It was all absurd. I could have done workout wherever I was, maybe not as much intense as gym workout but I could have taken out 10 mins easily(we all can) for some pushups at least.
But, I didn't
And this is exactly what we do with "hiring" and "team building". We know how important people are for the success of our startup. We go full force at it initially, weeks pass by, we do not see any visible results, we do see urgent work getting piled up and we stop going to gym, I mean doing anything about hiring and team-building.
Just like excuses for the gym, we make excuses like
- I don't have time for this (you always can take out 15 mins)
- I can do this later on (what about today)
- I will need a good bank balance, brand and a lot of time for hiring (no you don't)
- I am not seeing any result (it's not a one day or even one month job)
- I don't know the next step (then next step is "to learn")
Truth is to keep our body/mind running we need to commit to small workout session everyday. To keep our startup/business running, we need to take small steps everyday for hiring and team building. They are not one time jobs.
Take small steps everyday, push hard whenever you can. Even on your weak days, never go down to 0.
If you don't take small steps everyday, are you depending on luck to take that giant leap? You are not going to get in great shape or great talent without it and in the end you will compromise with your health or standards for your team.
The best time to look for your team members and build a kickass team was "yesterday". The second best is "today".
It doesn't matter how much other urgent tasks you have, it doesn't matter how much bank balance you have, you can always, always take small steps.
I have created a way to take those small steps for startup founders. Can you take time out to read one short and crisp email everyday for a week? Yes? Then I will send you an email everyday to teach you about building team for next 7 days. This small step will take you forward in your mission of building a great team.
Note: For past 2 years, I have been interviewing developers daily(I have been damn regular about this unlike gym) and building tech team for startups. So my views are limited to "building tech teams" only.
All you need to do is to share your email with me here
By the way, I went to gym today and I can't describe, how wonderful I feel now. Joy of taking small steps towards a journey into a great future.
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