Make money and have fun
I got into startups because it was fun. I could work with my friends and build things. There’s something incredible about building things with other people you enjoy working with. But somewhere along the line it became not fun anymore. The enjoyable parts: creating content, collaborating on product, working with customers, got replaced by endless obligations, tasks, and the mental weight of a customer base which inevitably had issues from time to time.
Honestly it wasn’t so much the things that did happen, it was the fear of things that could happen that made me not enjoy it. The fear of a customer being irate, the fear of a lawsuit for some frivolous reason, the fear of losing the business. It just became a situation where I’d spend my time on everything and nothing. Most of my time was spent on things I could not bring myself to look forward to.
My business coach had me do an exercise where I wrote down all the things I liked doing, and all the things I disliked. The dislikes were wayyy ahead of the likes. Not great. So I started to dismantle the dislikes, find ways to outsource, automate, hire. It took a solid 5 years, but it got done. Now I’m back to working on things I enjoy most of the time. The energy for creation has returned, I feel re-energized. I’m glad it could happen with the same company I’ve been working on for the last 13 years. I’m glad we got to turn it around without having to lose our momentum.
When I talk to business owners who are successful in growing revenue and customers, many are in the same place. You’ve built something successful financially, but you’ve lost the spark. Your days are filled with tasks and meetings you don’t really want to be doing. You’re a creator at heart. You like to build things, and now you don’t do that very often.
It’s super common, so don’t feel bad about it honestly. I would start small and pick something you can off-board that you don’t like doing. Then pick another, and slowly dismantle the web of unenjoyable stuff. So you can get back to building, creating, and enjoying yourself.
