Happy Monday folks, back with another solopreneur blog post for ya – so let’s jump in:
My last week(s) in business
I’ve spent most of the last week doing QA – a term I didn’t know existed until about a year ago.
QA = quality assurance for those of you who, like me, don’t have much experience in building tech.
In plain English, it means testing a tech product to find all of the bugs – things that aren’t working as they are supposed to – and fixing them.
The good is that we are that much closer to launching our new immigration platform. It’s already looking good, and after another week or two of testing and bug fixing, we should be ready to launch this month.
The bad is that there wasn’t much of a holiday this year, because the quicker I test, the quicker the devs can fix, and the quicker we can launch. That right there is part of the key tradeoff in entrepreneurship – you gain freedom, but with it comes the unpredictability of being your own boss.
But what keeps me going is 1) I love what I do, 2) it has been quieter so there has been less work to do in other areas of the business, 3) we believe Visto is really onto something great, at a great time, and I don’t want to push that back any longer, and 4) we have a team of cofounders, employees, contractors and investors that are all rooting for us and I don’t want to let them down.
So we keep grinding.
What I’m thinking about
Balancing rest as a solopreneur or entrepreneur business owner.
As I alluded to above, being an entrepreneur sometimes means having to work in times when others aren’t. This can mean over the holidays, on the weekend, etc.
I think that most entrepreneurs are more than fine with it because they’re more motivated to build their own business and do whatever it takes, than to work 9-5 for someone else.
The other major benefit is the flexibility it provides. In my case, I knew what we had coming – we were planning to start QAing our software mid December and launching in January, meaning things would be busy during the holidays internally, and hopefully busier in January/February as we launch and start to sell the new product.
So what did I do?
I took a few extra strategic days off in early December. Not a full holiday like I normally would at the end of December, but an extra Friday or Monday off to relax, rest and keep my energy levels high for the most crucial time in our company’s history (a bit dramatic? maybe…).
I think the key is to remember that as an entrepreneur you are effectively always working – even when you’re not at your computer or office space, you’re thinking about your business structure, how to grow it, how to solve problems, how to get more potential customers, how to improve your product, etc.
So while it’s important to take some time off, and to have a bit of a work/life balance, I think the key is not to feel guilty about it. You’re always working, so if you need to take an hour here or there to clear your head, or take a day off to rest, then do it.
This is one of the many benefits of being your own boss – you know, for the most part, when things are busy, slow, important or less so. Plan around those times to be the most efficient year round!
Any other thoughts or tips on optimizing rest? Hit reply and let me know.
What I’m reading
I finished Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. It was a really good read, going into the details on Steve’s life after he got ousted from Apple, started Next, invested in Pixar and then returned to Apple.
It’s pretty incredible when you think about it, especially because situations like that don’t come around very often. He revolutionized an industry before the age of 25, then was removed from the very company he started.
Instead of moving on to something else, he started a new business as a computer company, invested in and helped grow a second company in the animation space (which went on to be bought by Disney), then was brought back to lead the very same company he started and was fired from…
THEN he went on to revolutionize many other industries by reshaping the mp3 player, phone, tablet and more.
Anyway, I highly recommend it – and if you want to hear my 3 key takeaways from the book, I started doing short book review Tiktok videos too – check it out here.
New Podcast Episode
Episode 105 of the SG Podcast just went live, where I talked to Simon Severino about:
– How he transitioned from business consultant to starting his own business
– Scaling a small business up to and beyond 6 figures, step-by-step
– Planning for a successful business, go-to-market strategies, pricing and investing
And much more. Head over here to listen or watch.
Have an awesome week, feel free to share or forward this to anyone you think might enjoy reading my solopreneur blogs and book recommendations, and keep grinding.
