MARCIA’S GO-FOR-IT GUIDE FOR budding entrepreneurs
1 WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE A GOOD IDEA, ASK YOURSELF THE ‘SO WHAT?’ QUESTION
Be as harsh as possible – you have to get people’s attention, both consumers and investors, and it’s crowded out there. You need to be able to answer that question in one sentence, to hone it down to a little nugget that is irresistible.
3 LEARN TO GET YOUR MIND TO CHANGE DIRECTION
If you’re having a less than optimal time, it’s easy to feel that things are not going your way, but that may not be true. So stop, pull out three thank-you notes and write to people who have supported you. Suddenly, you’ll feel lucky.
5 KNOW WHAT RELIEVES YOUR STRESS
Study your Myers-Briggs type [a personality profiling system] so you know what tactics to deploy when you are stressed. I need extreme exercise to counteract stress; other people need to paint or to see friends.
7 OWN YOUR CHOICES
Starting a business is stressful. But whenever I feel stressed, I think, ‘No one made me do this. I chose to. This is not happening to me; I made it happen.’ And then I feel calmer.
2 UNDERSTAND YOUR BRAIN’S ABILITY TO SCREW YOU
(and don’t jump to conclusions). If someone hasn’t returned your email, don’t automatically assume it’s because they don’t like your idea. It may be because their email crashed or their boss gave them a crazy deadline.
4 READ LOTS OF PSYCHOLOGY BOOKS TO OPTIMISE YOUR THINKING
When my mind plays tricks on me, I can pull a tool out of my toolbox to use against it. For instance, negative emotions follow negative assumptions, which can lead to a downward spiral. There’s a great system by Byron Katie called ‘The Work’ that gets you in the habit of questioning whether or not those assumptions are true and asking yourself how you would be reacting if they weren’t.
6 LIST-MAKING IS THE NEW ZEITGEIST
The current thinking is that you should never have more than three things on your to-do list at any one time or you won’t actually do them.
8 DON’T BE BLINKERED
Entrepreneurs have deep knowledge in one area but need to scan everything to come up with new ideas. Try the Pocket app; you tell it your interests and it sends you a variety of related articles.