Stop Trying to Make Money

When most of us start up we have one goal, to make money. We want to have the freedom to be the ones to make the choices and to keep all the money that we are making. The problem is that a lot of the times people get confused and think that making money is their purpose.

If this happens everything goes downhill and leads to inevitable failure. We need to change our attitude and see money as the result of our purpose and efforts. We need to focus on making things better and helping others. Once you "forget" about money and focus on helping, you will be able to take greater risks and innovate. This will eventually lead to making money, if you are doing the right thing.

I know it's difficult but try to put making money in second place. Focus on what you really want to do, what you want your purpose to be and how you can help others. Slowly you will start feeling better about what you do and also make more money.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Nobody's Perfect

You may have noticed that nothing was posted for a few days during last week on this blog. Although we have made a commitment that we will be always posting on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, last week we messed it up.

The reason? Our side project, CPU Wars, had to be shipped to all our backers and that took an excessively longer time than we had planned. It was the first time we were doing a task like this, at this kind of scale, and as expected we underestimated the effort needed. At least we got everything shipped and our backers are very happy.

Of course I felt bad about not keeping my promise and started judging my decisions, it's very difficult to quiet the inner voice. What's important is that I acknowledged my failure, came to terms with it and focused on what I had to do in that moment. At the end of the day, nobody's perfect and I had to choose what was most important at that moment.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Act On It

Yesterday I was discussing with one of the backers of CPU Wars, about the creation of the project and its success. What made this idea real and successful? Acting on it. 

A lot of other people might have had the same or similar idea, but never acted on it. When you are faced with a new idea, with the unknown you have two options:

1. Start working on it
2. Do nothing and then complain about the great idea that you once had and never did anything about

For me, it has always been the first. This way, if I fail at least I can say that I gave it a try. Of course this is just the beginning, but what sets apart wantrepreneurs from entrepreneurs is not generating or finding ideas. It's acting on them.

We all have a lot of ideas, so when you find that certain one, the one that makes you feel all tingly when you think about it, act on it. Stop procrastinating and thinking about all the worst scenarios. Dedicate some of your free time and start working, at least you'll get the experience.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Lights, Camera, Action!

The scene is set, everyone is at their positions, knows what they have to do, knows their lines and then a blooper happens. What happens next? Take 2.

I know what you're thinking, what does this have to do with anything? When we work on something we expect to do everything right from the beginning. Instead of starting and acting, we spend endless hours planning in order to avoid any mistake or failure.

What's the alternative? Start, act, try new things. If you fail, that's no problem. Try again. Each time you will become better and stronger. Don't expect to get it right from the beginning, there are many things to learn and the best way to learn them is by acting and learning from your mistakes.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Reflect

Failing and making mistakes is not enough in order to learn and become better. You also need to dedicate time on reflecting on what has happened and why it didn't work.

Here's where a problem lies. When most people reflect on bad experiences, their feelings resurface. There's anger, anxiety, stress, fear, tears and emptiness. In order for the reflection to work and make you better you need to turn these feelings around.

Examine the past experiences without passing judgement and feeling bad. Things happen for a reason and by reflecting positively on the past you learn and expand your brain capacity. You can even create new pathways in your brain and start feeling better. Think of what could have gone worse or how your failure protected you from things getting worse.

As always, for this to work you need to turn it into a practice. Try to at least dedicate an hour once a week reflecting on past experiences. Turning the bad ones into good ones and learning from them. You will then gradually start feeling better and facing problems with a more positive attitude.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

To Be An Entrepreneur You Need To Start

A lot of people are starting to see entrepreneurship as the way for the future, which is a great thing.

One thing that I've learnt and tell everyone, is that to be an entrepreneur you need to start. It doesn't matter what your first venture is, you need to do it so you can learn.

No matter how many books you read and blogs/sites you visit, nothing can substitute real hands-on experience. Find something you can do that will not eat all your savings and work on it for a few months. This will teach you how to sell, market, fail and in the end how to run a business.

Get ready, set, go!

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Switch Until It's Right

Last week I read the latest book from the Domino Project, Anything You Want. It's an amazing book, written by Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby) with lots of useful lessons. I highly recommend that you get it and give it the hour that it needs to read it.

The video below is one of the lessons from the book on persistence and continuous improvement. In order to be successful we have to do the work and continuously improve. Insisting on what we have and trying to promote it without making any changes, won't take us very far. Every time we are rejected we need to make changes and try again. This is how you can create a hit.

video by Derek Sivers

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Don't Let it Get You Down

Failing is tough. No matter how many times you fail, each one will have the same soul-crashing effect. The important thing is what you do afterwards. You need to learn to not let it get you down.

Fail, learn from your mistakes and move on. Do more work, try again, fail, until you have reached success. Don't listen to the bad things people might have to say and don't change the core of what you are trying to do. You know why you are doing it, it's just not ready yet.

I was amazed to read last week that Tim Westergren from Pandora was rejected 300 times by VCs when looking for funding after the dot-com crash. That's not a typo, it was 300 times! I'm sure the last rejection hurt as much as the first one. The important thing is that he didn't give up. He knew he had something, he just needed to continue trying.

Don't give up and don't let a failure get you down. Gather up the pieces and keep trying.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

There is No Magic Formula

Everyone is always looking for a magic formula. The one that will make them creative, successful, powerful, rich and generally help them achieve their dreams. The bad news is that there is no magic formula. The good news is that you can achieve your dreams if you decide to.

What you need to achieve your dreams is determination and willingness to fail. Whatever you decide to do, you need to start working, failing, tweaking, experimenting and then repeat everything. That's the only way you can achieve your dreams. You need to devote yourself to what you do and try out new things continuously. Most of them will fail, but the ones that succeed will give you the rewards that you want.

Stop looking for magic formulas and shortcuts to success. You need to do the work and take risks. Try, fail and repeat, that's the only formula you need until you reach your goals.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Choose Your Battles

To be successful, you not only need to fail, you also need to know when to quit. Being able to choose the right battles is a key to your success.

A problem I have continuously observed is that people tend to get into a battle regardless of their chances. They just dive in even if they have very slight chances to succeed. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about taking chances and risking, but in order to be successful you need to have the clear vision to see if something is a failure from the beginning.

If you are in the situation that you have been fighting for very long, maybe it's time to retreat and try again in a different territory. This doesn't just apply to starting up a new venture. It's also valid with new markets, clients and arguments. If you see that you are not getting across you have two options:

1. Try a different tactic
2. Measure your losses and retreat

There is no point in fighting a battle that you can't win. If you do, you'll come out with diminished resources, low morale and a lot of losses. Measure your position, identify your position and decide if the battle is worth fighting for.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis