May 16th, 2020
It took 3 days, but now I’m starting to get some clarity.
I need to extend this time off for another week, I think. Keep driving, keep thinking.
What is the root of this burnout? When people ask, I say a lot of things to make excuses for myself.
But the root is in my new business that's not doing very well.
It has been really hard.
I think it’s been hard for a number of reasons:
- My previous business success was a lot of luck - I got lucky in a few ways
- The previous business had a much lower level of difficulty
- I’m getting stuck in my own way - my own vision and ego are harming both businesses
How to fix this?
The first thing I want to say is that I won’t be giving up.
I won’t be giving up because:
- I have had some success with all this. It’s not a complete failure.
- Starting over is a crutch. I can switch and change things without starting over, and save time in the long run.
- I’m still obsessed with the problems I’m trying to solve.
I just need a better framework to make decisions and change these things.
It's especially hard as a solo founder. Instead of having someone to bounce these things off of - you must go internally & look inside to make change.
This can be a good thing because you can make change without friction (w/o fighting with your cofounder). But this can be a bad thing if you simply never change.
And I won't change unless I can become more self-aware, more open to feedback, and most importantly, letting go of my ego.
It's especially hard as a solo founder. Instead of having someone to bounce these things off of - you must go internally & look inside to make change.
This can be a good thing because you can make change without friction (w/o fighting with your cofounder). But this can be a bad thing if you simply never change.
And I won't change unless I can become more self-aware, more open to feedback, and most importantly, letting go of my ego.
Instead of thinking “this is how it will be in 5 years”, think about “how can I find the right customers, talk to them, and get more feedback and change and tweak things”.
How do I build a framework for this?
I already have a baseline. Starter Story - it’s a massive benefit. Income coming in every month, lots of users, and a platform to work and try and experiment on new things.
Just like DHH and Jason Fried at Basecamp - they have a successful product and personal following and ways of thinking - but they constantly are evolving and releasing (and often failing) at many products.
I need to be more on the ground floor, open to feedback, and finding the right customers.
I need a framework.
Been watching some videos on “The Lean Startup” - and I really like some of the ideas there. The “Build, Measure, Learn” idea as well the “pivot or persevere” idea.
What I need is to dig deeper there and actually try out these frameworks - to be more on the ground floor. I did this early days with Pigeon and actually made a ton of progress - but as of late I haven’t.
More to come.