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Three Things: What do you do when you hit "Rock Bottom" for your company
Three Things I Learned This Week In Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events - Rock Bottom Edition
We've all had times in our careers or, for entrepreneurs, in our businesses, of intense doubt or bad news which can feel like rock bottom. Here's what not to do, both from experience and those we were saved from by mentors:
1) Never make decisions in an extreme state. In the end, we're human. We have emotions. Sometimes they swing one way or the other a bit extremely. Add stress or travel to a lack of sleep, a cold, and some crappy weather and we can find ourselves in some rough headspaces no matter how much meditating and mindfulness we practice. Every psych book out there will tell us - do not make important decisions when too far in the dumps or in the clouds. Recognize you're there and follow the playbook. Big decisions wait for more level days.
2) Map it out once then move on. It's easy to get into a forecasting hole where we stare at numbers. I did it for years. The amount of hours I spent laying out different scenarios just to stem nerves and find some certainty I'll never get back. Spend at most one hour a week. Then move on.
3) Keep moving forward. For the vast majority of us building something great takes a lot of time and a lot of ups and downs…..and dog days, and boredom, and fear, and and and. When you don't believe - and you won't often- keep moving. Set a date in the future, far enough out - at least six months, and just swim to there. At that point, we can evaluate and make decisions. You may surprise yourself.* I spent my first week at StubHub moping in my room. What a waste. Once I got to it….we had a lot of fun.
4) Know it's okay. It's okay for it to suck and for us to be down sometimes, especially in the tough times (2008 and early 2012 for us), for weeks at a time. Trying to avoid these common feelings only puts us in a worse place and wastes time.
5) Don't try to work harder. 10 hour work days are enough. We all think we're superhuman, especially at the beginning, and that we can work our way out of the darkness by pushing even harder. I've seen the end of that road. Trust me, you don't want to - not for yourself or your team. In the end, that extra work was usually ends up crappy anyways. Scared money don't make money.
6) Accept quitting may be a good option. When racing east looking for a sunset, the first person to turn around is the winner. Once you've done 1-5, if "this" isn't what you thought it was, go do something else. There's no shame in it. Nobody cares as much as we think they do and the ones who matter will be supportive. We only go around the carousel once - it's a tragedy to waste it on something we don't love.
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By Tony Knopp
5
11 ratings
Three Things I Learned This Week In Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events - Rock Bottom Edition
We've all had times in our careers or, for entrepreneurs, in our businesses, of intense doubt or bad news which can feel like rock bottom. Here's what not to do, both from experience and those we were saved from by mentors:
1) Never make decisions in an extreme state. In the end, we're human. We have emotions. Sometimes they swing one way or the other a bit extremely. Add stress or travel to a lack of sleep, a cold, and some crappy weather and we can find ourselves in some rough headspaces no matter how much meditating and mindfulness we practice. Every psych book out there will tell us - do not make important decisions when too far in the dumps or in the clouds. Recognize you're there and follow the playbook. Big decisions wait for more level days.
2) Map it out once then move on. It's easy to get into a forecasting hole where we stare at numbers. I did it for years. The amount of hours I spent laying out different scenarios just to stem nerves and find some certainty I'll never get back. Spend at most one hour a week. Then move on.
3) Keep moving forward. For the vast majority of us building something great takes a lot of time and a lot of ups and downs…..and dog days, and boredom, and fear, and and and. When you don't believe - and you won't often- keep moving. Set a date in the future, far enough out - at least six months, and just swim to there. At that point, we can evaluate and make decisions. You may surprise yourself.* I spent my first week at StubHub moping in my room. What a waste. Once I got to it….we had a lot of fun.
4) Know it's okay. It's okay for it to suck and for us to be down sometimes, especially in the tough times (2008 and early 2012 for us), for weeks at a time. Trying to avoid these common feelings only puts us in a worse place and wastes time.
5) Don't try to work harder. 10 hour work days are enough. We all think we're superhuman, especially at the beginning, and that we can work our way out of the darkness by pushing even harder. I've seen the end of that road. Trust me, you don't want to - not for yourself or your team. In the end, that extra work was usually ends up crappy anyways. Scared money don't make money.
6) Accept quitting may be a good option. When racing east looking for a sunset, the first person to turn around is the winner. Once you've done 1-5, if "this" isn't what you thought it was, go do something else. There's no shame in it. Nobody cares as much as we think they do and the ones who matter will be supportive. We only go around the carousel once - it's a tragedy to waste it on something we don't love.