How to succeed at being a failure.
Or a minute of why weakness isn’t a death sentence
No doubt, there are no people who know everything.
Even great scientists, with their vast knowledge about the Universe, often don't know how a simple shower mixer works.
Geniuses can be forgiven.
Unlike the founder of, say, a design agency that creates those mixers.
However, ignorance or weakness in something does not mean you should give up on yourself.
Continuing on the topic of great scientists – Stephen Hawking is a prime example of iron will and determination.
Hell, if Nick Vujicic doesn't inspire you to stop whining, maybe you shouldn't even try.
Just tell yourself - I'm a loser and get over it.
Exhale.
Lie down and die.
It's that easy to give up.
I won't beat around the bush.
The best example I have is myself.
When I started 20 years ago, I knew nothing. Not a thing.
I didn't even know what I was doing was called business.
My first client practically sold themselves to me. Ha.
Almost by force.
This is a good example that neither school nor university teaches what is needed for success.
But let's not delve into the topic of what success is and why it's as mythical as the idea that you need to know and be able to do everything to achieve it. Another time.
I knew nothing about:
- Sales
- Taxes
- PNL
- Communications
- Marketing
- Planning
- Designing
- Programming
- People management
- Entrepreneurship
It’s easier to say what I did know.
I knew for sure that hard work, persistence, and lack of laziness are always rewarded. I believed in this, and it gave me strength.
And I also had patience.
Even though what 23-year-old doesn't want a cool car, travel, a nice house, and all that?
How strange it sounds now in the age of social media and AI.
Dial-up internet at night (because it's cheaper) and almost total absence of it in general (what 6G, what are you talking about?).
Not much helps self-education, right?
Yes, back then people still bought books to learn.
On one hand - digitization, the availability of the internet, and now AI have created a huge opportunity for practically anyone to get stronger - just learn.
On the other hand - this has thrown the gates of competition wide open.
You compete with the whole world.
And now also with AI.
Now you need to learn even more, even harder.
But already something else, which 10 years ago no one could even think of.
Every day something new appears.
No-code and AI have turned the world upside down.
Over the past 20 years of managing and developing own business from freelancing to an international IT company with several offices in different countries and a staff of more than 80 employees, I have learned on my skin about:
- Structuring international business
- Banks, lawyers, and legal support for business
- Budgeting and PNL and everything related to money in business
- Hiring and managing international teams
- Conducting negotiations
- Resolving crises from conflicts in the team, and client projects to emergency evacuation of an entire office
- Planning company development
- Creating and launching products and startups
- Creating partnerships
And much more of what is discussed privately with their lawyers and is certainly not available through simple googling.
I read a lot of books, talked to many entrepreneurs around the world, bought and took various courses in online universities.
But this did not save me from mistakes and problems.
Moreover, each problem turned out to be a kind of surprise.
Even having an idea of the potential problem, until you start practically solving it, all theoretical knowledge is not very useful.At best, they will give a general direction to dig.
It is impossible to prepare for all problems in advance.
Does this mean you don't need to learn, read, study others' experiences?
Nope!
Even more so now.
I made a lot of mistakes, but at the same time, I was able to avoid a huge number of others just because I knew in advance and immediately implemented (that is, did) changes in the company.
Over these 20 years, I realized one pattern.
Every problem you face is unique in its own way. Because it's yours.
And every time you will have to solve it in your own way and anew.
Theoretical knowledge, background, but most importantly, the accumulated experience of solving all these problems will help to cope with them faster. And even then, not always.
Now I am again, as 20 years ago, diligently learning. And again, I know nothing.
Because being busy with the routine management of the business, I missed the fact that the world has changed.
I fell into the trap of the comfort zone.
The business, not without problems of course, but who doesn't have them, worked like a tuned system, without my deep immersion.
I was busy honing and improving processes. Doing nothing, in short.
I fell into the trap of pride.
I was sure I had anticipated everything, prepared for all possible problems.
How naive.
But the scariest thing is I stopped looking around, stopped learning.
I became uninterested and bored.
And I often caught myself thinking that I didn't want this business and its growth.
- It lost its meaning for me.
- I was very nostalgic for those early days.
- I missed creativeness.
- I got bogged down in management and routine.
And the world did not stand still.
And what Taleb called the Black Swan happened.
The business was not ready.
The fact that many businesses found themselves in an even more difficult situation does not matter.
The result is important, not the efforts and suffering.
And all my knowledge turned out to be not what was required. Because the world changed, but I did not.
It took me too long to realize that what worked before no longer works. Because the world changed, but I did not.
I had to hit rock bottom to understand that it is impossible to do something new in old ways.
Especially if you're sick of it.
Although, damn, I read about this in books!
I had to let go of my illusions and face reality - in the new world, I need to learn again.
Diligently and carefully try to apply new knowledge, combine it with my experience.
Although my income has decreased many times over, although I went through huge losses - I am happy.
Because my subconscious desire, my secret dream, has come true.
Ah and funny fact overall company efficiency increased to previously unachievable height.
Just about much less friction, useless discussions, dumb time wasting.
And much less control from my side.
And, yes more automation and AI utilization.
Because the world has changed and now I am changing too.
- It is impossible to know and foresee everything
- All problems will be unique in their own way - there are no ready-made solutions because everyone fights their own demons
- You need to constantly learn, look around - this gives an understanding of ongoing processes, serves as a starting point for solving a specific problem and most importantly - gives the opportunity to look through others' eyes, see new opportunities and directions
- Learning for the sake of learning is a waste of time. Knowledge needs to be applied in practice.
- No one who has achieved success started knowing everything and having a complete map of obstacles, but they started and learned along the way
- Failure is just an opportunity to stop and think about what went wrong and do it differently
Loosers aren’t born.
They become.
Either when they prepare all their lives but never start.
Or when they remain in the captivity of their illusions and the arrogance of omniscience.
If you want to know more about other mess-ups and lessons on my entrepreneurial journey — subscribe to Eugene’s Stories.
See you soon!
- Eugene
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Who is Eugene?
Here, in my sandbox, I share stories from my entrepreneurial life, along with thoughts and reflections on business, life, and philosophy.
I am obsessed with helping non-tech entrepreneurs demystify web design, development, automation, and new tech.