Founder or flounder?
There is a fine line, right. The founder that builds a business worth more than they could have imagined, with the impact they dreamed of, working with clients they have cultivated over years. Or, the flounder that is attempting to organise all the ideas into one stream of income while juggling the other parts of life. Determined not to be a flounder. Still working on my founder journey. I am reluctant to call myself an entrepreneur. Because, it sounds wanky af. But, that's what I am I guess:
An entrepreneur is a person who starts and runs a new business, taking on financial risks to make a profit
What Do Entrepreneurs Do?
Find problems: They look for gaps in the market or things that do not work well.
Build solutions: They create new goods or services to fix those problems.
Take risks: They use their own time, money, and energy with no guarantee of success.
Manage resources: They organise money, tools, and workers to get the business running.
This definitely feels a lot like what I am doing.
The problem defined is: burnout is an accepted epidemic in professional services (not just law) and while the traditional version of success worked for those leaders that came before us, millennial leaders are leading in a very different world and need to find a very different way to lead teams, regulate themselves and lead organisations.
The solution is: a combination of business and individual responsibility through facilitation of coaching, consulting and speaking engagements that give space to think differently, step outside of the normal way of doing things and consider the business as a systematic pathway to success rather than treating parts of the business in single operations.
The risks: everything. I have been a lawyer for 16 years. That is what I know. But, I know I know this stuff too. So, here we are. Risking it all. To create a bigger impact than my legal career could have ever allowed for.
Manage resources: money, tools and workers. Got it. Yep. None of those. This is a juggle. I would put time and energy into this bucket too. Self management, self awareness and realistic goals are definitely other things that need to be managed. Being clear on a strategy is the game plan. Not there yet though.
To founder or flounder. We will see how this plays out. So far, still a founder on the founder journey and do not need to retreat to the see.
