Managing the Input and Building the Path
It’s been almost three years since I’ve started South Bend Code School with Alex and Chris. It has been a wild ride for sure. We’re 2.5 months into 2018 I am 110% sure that the ride will get wilder….more wild? You know what I mean.
I wanted to take this moment and reflect on this awesome and strange experience.
Entrepreneurship is a pretty hyped topic right now. There is a lot of weight put into the word and a lot of interesting ways people think the journey is supposed to go. At this point in my personal journey I think it is safe for me to say that the most important rule about building your own thing is that there are no rules.
At all.
Nada.
Zero.
I’ve studied a good number of people at various stages in the game. The only common thread I can find between all of them is that there is no straight path to the end goal because the end goal is defined differently on a person by person (and problem by problem) basis. There isn’t a formula.
If someone is trying to sell you a formula don’t listen to them. This game is too conditional.
I’ve gotten a lot of advice over the last few years from people who are very firm in their stances and beliefs on how starting a company should go. Some of this advice was solicited and some was not. Some of it was good and some of it was absolute garbage. A lot of it came from people who have never started a company, made a sale, or genuinely connected with another human being. All in all, it has been a lot of input. If you stack that input on the day to day of running a business, the input can be ridiculously overwhelming.
I’ve determined that a large part of starting and growing your own company is taking the overwhelming amount of input, figuring out which pieces work for you, and then acting upon those pieces to build a path that gets you somewhere close to where you are trying to go.
Notice how I said “build a path”. That is because the path to where you are going does not exist. You have to make it.
It is extremely important to remember that not every piece of advice or every recommendation from your favorite book, blog, or podcast is going to work for you. It is also extremely important to be open to the input you may not want to hear. Take it in, process the information, and then use what you can.
I have seen several teams try to build companies unsuccessfully over the last few years and I think a large part of it is due to getting bogged down in the advice that “should” work or following the steps that “should” get you where you are going.
If entrepreneurship is about trailblazing and doing new things, why would we expect that there is a set of rules or guidelines that lead to success? There aren’t any. There is no secret formula. It’s all about how you define success and how hard you work toward that vision with the input you have available.
In the endless jungle of input, the best way to manage the stress of overwhelming input is to have a “north star” (or a few) that keep you sane when things get tough. Some of my favorites are very simple:
Do the right thing.
Be yourself.
Keep going.
Manage the input. Listen to everyone, but take it all in stride. Don’t compromise your core values for the path that someone else tells you to take. Build your own.
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Alex Sejdinaj is a cofounder of South Bend Code School, GiveGrove, and Code Works. He loves building cool stuff that helps people.
