Revealing The Most Painful Lesson I Learned As a New Entrepreneur
This was tough to learn
You know that feeling when you visit a new place for the first time?
That alert sense of curiosity?
Well, in 2019, I flew to Switzerland.
To get to know the locals, I accepted an invitation to a random man’s home. He was a middle-aged lawyer with a thick French accent.
Everything was fine until he started to take off his pants in the kitchen.
Before I tell you what happened next, let me explain its relevance to today’s topic:
The Most Painful Lesson I Learned as a New Entrepreneur.
In July, I incorporated my first LLC— Widmaier Digital Enterprises.
I’m attracted to entrepreneurship because I see it as a vehicle for discovery and self-growth. Of course, I want to make money. But that’s not the primary motivator.
Before entrepreneurship, I was obsessed with Stoicism.
The Stoic preaches that things beyond our control are neither good nor bad:
“What philosophy has taught me is to be indifferent to [everything] beyond the will’s control.” - Epictetus
Because of this, I decided to stop judging myself.
We tend to label our natural tendencies as strengths or weaknesses. Instead, I started to look at them as something that simply is.
Objective facts.
How does this tie into the naked Swiss lawyer?
Well, before I was in the home of a rapidly unclothing Swiss lawyer, I was rollerblading to McDonald’s.
Out of nowhere, a man stopped me, shared with me his evening plans, and invited me to his home for a pregame beer.
“You seem like an open person.” He said….
My excitement in “getting to know the locals” let me overlook the obvious:
This man was a sexual predator!
While my openness has hurt me in times like this, other times, it has served me exceptionally well. Like when I met a German guy in Buenos Aires and ended up on his family’s farm, six months later:
And so it’s not that my openness is good or bad.
It’s simply a design feature that I need to be aware of.
“The essence of good and evil consists in the condition of our character. And extrernals are the means by which our character finds its particular good and evil.”
- Epictetus
Chances are you have your own unique traits that set you apart from others.
If you want them to serve you rather than hurt you, you absolutely need to be aware of them.
How does this relate to entrepreneurship?
My openness helped become an entrepreneur. It also helped me close my first uber-millionaire client.
But on the other hand, it helped me grossly overestimate my ability to scale revenue.
Again:
“Extrernals are the means by which our character finds its particular good and evil.”
The point is:
Your natural personality will have a signifigant impact on your outcomes.
The key to good outcomes is to develop self-awareness.
And self-awareness comes from putting yourself in high stake situations— like entrepreneurship or moving abroad— and objectively reflecting on your performance.
Thanks for reading.
What did you think of this week’s newsletter?
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P.S.
Luckily, the Swiss lawyer respected my wishes to leave his house.
Also for the dozens of times I’ve met strangers abroad, this was by far the worst experience…. What’s your craziest travel experience?