Journal of the Wantrapreneur : Ask and be told

Just ask. Seems like a simple suggestion, but going back a few months, I'd have no clue just how much power there was in asking. Early January i set out on a quest to open up a BioHacker space in Melbourne, now in May, 4 months later, I am President of an organization, I have $30,000 worth of equipment from a University I still owe $10,000 to for a partial education, and am about to open the lab up in my garage. All of this was obtained for under $50, the rest was given to me because I asked. It's amazing the stories we spin ourselves to justify us not doing something we're not comfortable with doing. We could spend countless hours holding off on doing something that may in itself take only a minute.

Step 1

I asked the Internet, who around Melbourne would be interested in starting up a BioHack space. The response was pretty good, and so we created a Facebook page to keep everyone up to date and act as a medium for communications during this project. Soon after this the task at hand of what needed to get done was beyond me so I decided to look for help. I asked who wanted to form an organization, next thing we knew, we had an organization.

Step 2

I asked existing contacts in my science network as well as seeking out other new contacts for old lab equipment. Sure enough, labs in Australia are constantly upgrading, resulting in many thousands of dollars worth of unused equipment just sitting around. Much of this goes straight in the bin! So when these laboratories heard there was a worthwhile cause they could off load this gear to, they were happy to help. The acquisition of this gear was a huge milestone and, a big shout out to Deakin University and my old Demonstrator/friend Wesy for helping out.

Step 3

As things were progressing, we needed to start focusing the power of our board towards the tasks that would allow for progress. What we found out was that in order for us to go to the next level we would need to change from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee. Not knowing how to go forward we decided to ask for some legal advice. What we got was free pro-bono help. Some people really identified with the idea, so much they were willing to wave their normal fees until we could pay. When it comes to the legal side of things, it's very important to get everything down pat to reduce liability and risk to the members. Unfortunately the fees for going from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee are quite expensive. It would have cost me $2,000 roughly to pay for an accountant to find a lawyer to have this done. Then I asked if anyone would be willing to do it pro-bono and the answer was yes, this halved the cost to $1,000! 

The point I'm trying to make is just ask! you never know what you're going to get until you ask, and until then you can only speculate! Ask everyone, tell everyone, speak to everyone! If you come across a stone, turn it over and see whats underneath, you'll never guess, so don't.

Journal of the Wantrapreneur : the pain compass

Going through life, each of us forms our own unique relationship with pain. Whether it is physical, emotional or mental pain, it is rare to hear of someone who has never been hurt. Nor would I trust such a person. Pain tells us we are out of our comfort zone, it signals that something is happening beyond our expected norm. When considering our day to day lives, we often feel discomfort when our expectations aren’t met. These expectations could be long standing paradigms that we believe in and have had challenged, or they could be expectations made from recently acquired information. Generally, when things don’t go according to plan, we feel a little tightness in our chest, some discomfort, some pain. This may vary greatly from person to person. Some people don’t deal with pain very well, others were born from it.

While pain is a very unique feeling, however, societies tend to under harness the potential power of this feeling and instead teach that pain is something to be avoided. I would argue the contrary. Pain is unique and powerful emotion to an individual in the context of his or her life, which instead of being completely steered away from, should be recognize and accepted for what it is. Pain is our emotional response to a stimulus. When thinking about pain or discomfort in this manner, it can actually be used as our own compass to explore our boundaries. Where do our limits lie?

It can be used as a diagnostic tool for not only ourselves but the journeys and projects we embark on throughout life. Okay so this company project doesn’t seem to be doing well, why is that? Why am I suddenly feeling this way when this person brings up ”blank”? Something is happening, it’s not going as I expected and I’m having an emotional reaction. Now that I am aware of my actual boundaries, and where my limits are, where do I go from here? What changes do I need to make to better handle this situation in the future?

Of course actually deploying this style of self-awareness during the live feeling of pain is no simple task, it takes a conscious degree of mindfulness. So practice is key, as practice makes perfect. Actually practice doesn't make perfect, it makes it habits, and habits take very little energy to do. So the more we practice being mindful in life, the sooner we can discover our own limitations, where they come from, if they can be pushed, without even thinking about it.

 As an entrepreneur, it is imperative that we realise when we are out of our depth, and that when we are, we decide that staying the course is what we need to do or to alter it. It’s when we ignore what our bodies are telling us that we begin to suffer. It’s when we continue to act incongruently to who we actually are, that we continue to suffer. So don’t ignore the pain, embrace it, listen to it, accept it, and make the needed changes for you to grown in all areas of your life.

There is a very important lesson that I must follow up with and that is,

We are not our thoughts or our feelings. 

When we identify with a thought or an emotion, especially a negative one, we run the risk of becoming consumed in a world of hurt. In addition, all emotions stem from thoughts. Every feeling you've felt, was sourced from a thought. By policing our thoughts we can become better masters of our house. Awareness is the answer, by observing your thoughts and feelings instead of letting them run your life, we begin to separate the feelings and thoughts based on assumptions from our true selves. Most of our negative thoughts and emotions stem from not knowing. If you don't know, ask, do not base your actions, risk your mental health, or happiness on uninformed assumptions. If you're afraid to ask, maybe that is your pain compass signalling you have some work to do.

Journal of the Wantrepreneur : Just do it

Yes it's an overused brand slogan and a little Cliché, but the value in these words seems to go unheeded most of the time. We are our own biggest obstacles in everything we do.

Every task we want to accomplish is our task, not someone else's. We put in the effort, we decide where to put our foot down. We choose to begin, we choose to walk away. We create the dysfunctional fantasies that tell us we are not experienced enough or lack the technical knowhow to move forward. It's our passion and drive that moves beyond this level of thinking to take us  to the promise land. Even recruiting or collaborating with others involves us. We choose who to work with or who to delegate our tasks to and the manner in which we operate within each of these relationships.

So why do we stop ourselves from even starting and denying ourselves invaluable real world experience?

We tell ourselves we need more knowledge we need more answers so I won't fail. Again, we see failure to accomplish a task as a bad thing. No book can transmit the same quality or quantity of information as the real world can. Still, many spend countless hours reading guides as if they were their own instruction manuals that were written specifically for them. Books offer great tips on how to approach new situations. However books won't reduce the hard work you have before you. Nor should you want them to, there is no substitute for hard work and experience that you get from the world.

Books definitely have a place in any journey, but ultimately we will have to choose how to implement and use this knowledge. Book aren't going to do the work for us. What's more is that no one book can ever fully prepare you for your unique individual experience. Obtaining the answers for our unique path requires you to have gone out and find the right questions to ask.

"An approximate answer to the right question is worth far more than a precise answer to the wrong one."

-John Tuley

Don't stop asking questions, instead go out there, experience, and form questions based on the real world. As soon as you do so, your questions will be based off of more than just a few lines of text but instead, from the vast data of your mind a super computer. Your senses, you intuitions, your past experiences will offer a much greater platform to ask questions from than a chair with a book in your hand.

Now if you have no clue what you're doing, great, read a book or two, but don't expect to achieve your goals from your reading chair. The sooner you start, the sooner you get to find the right questions to ask, and the sooner you can seek a relevant answer from a book, someone with more experience or even yourself. It all begins with you though. So move beyond the self-imposed limitations, and toward a better education in you.

Practice self-reflection every step of the way. What did you do and what would you have done differently? Especially when it comes to the decisions you were most unsure of. If you keep telling yourself the future is where you need to get to in order to make the right decision, you'll never take action because an action occurs in the present, in the now. So too lies the right question, and your answer. So just do it already. 

Journal of the Wantrapreneur : Falling stars

Suddenly it happens, after overcoming obstacle after obstacle, we come falling down and hit the dirt to taste reality. Achieving our goal won't be as easy as we thought. As the dawn of reality sets in, it's easy to see why many projects seem too daunting and are left unfinished. The passion, drive, and overall enthusiasm gives way to stress, fear and sometimes depression. "Why won't this just work?!" we ask ourselves, as the world seems set on keeping us down with each added task to our list of growing to do's.

What we don't realise is that this is part of the process, and that these obstacles aren't what they seem to be, road blocks. They are in fact clear markers for navigating to what we have set out to accomplish. More like sign posts or foot holds. Looking at every journey we embark on, A-Z, we can be overwhelmed by the sheer distance we need to cover to get to our destination. What if we just look at A-B and forget the rest, what about B-C? It's all about framing and perspective, so make it work for you not against you, which is our natural tendency. Here is another question, did you ever think you could just hope straight from A directly to Z? I hope not, we need to accept that there is always going to be ground to cover to get us from where we are now to where we want to be. So be thankful if you are facing new challenges, these serve as street lamps on what would have been a very dark and arduous journey.

"Nothing worthwhile ever happens quickly and easily. You achieve only as you are determined to achieve… and as you keep at it until you have achieved"

-Robert H. Lauer

So now if we think about the difficulty of the task, and the time it will take to achieve it as a sign that what we are trying to accomplish is in fact worthwhile, how do we feel? I'm pretty excited.

Enter the 4 P's of entrepreneurship Patience, Persistence, Perseverance and Passion.

We need patience because MOST things don't happen overnight like all of the success stories in the media would have us believe. There needs to be a willingness to accept when we mess up, and to accept every added challenge we are given. Look at it more like "don't put your foot here" and "this is a possible place to put your foot" respectively. Need I remind you how many light bulbs Edison designed before getting it right?

We need persistence and perseverance because we often won't get it right the first time. Persistence and Perseverance are the equivalent of being willing to go through the process of re-evaluating our decisions and actions. It's all part of the cycle in taking that next step to our final destination. This definitely does not mean charge ahead blindly, it means learning from our mistakes and successes. We need to do more of what works and less of what doesn't. Looking at our journey this way makes it a much more rewarding experience. "Look at all I have learned" instead of "look at how much I've messed up".

Finally we need that passion. It's unlikely that we will be passionate all of the time. We need to think back to the early days of our journey, our why. It helps down to write down your original vision so you don't lose track of what you're working for, and always add to it. Re-visiting this often will keep you on track and full of the grit needed. Don't just read it, visualize yourself in a world where you're living your vision. Play a song that really gets you pumped up, close your eyes and see it. What does it look like? How do you feel? How has the lives of your customers changed? How has the world changed? Who are you to stop this from happening? If you don't make this happen who will? Now look at A-B, what is it in the scheme of things now?

Stay present, focus on what is directly in front of you, laugh at every challenge you're given with acceptance as you realise these are just getting you closer to your goal. Remember no mountain has ever been too tall, no ocean too wide, to stop our species from achieving our dreams. Now let me see your war face!

Journal of the Wantrapreneur : Team Assemble

Assembling your team

Once we have our vision it's time to start thinking about how much time and what sort of skills will be needed to achieve it. While it may be fun to think we can just learn up on a skill to avoid the need for asking for help, the truth is that achieving any goal is going to require you to interface at some point with another person. It is much easier to make progress by finding the right people who want to help, and recruiting them. They could be friends, family, or similarly minded people at a meetup, so long as they share you vision, have an interest in helping, and relative skills and or experience.

Before you actually invite them on board you need to ensure they are the right person for the job. People, especially myself, get caught up in the excitement of our project and end up recruiting anyone that wants to help. Unfortunately what this means, is that you run the risk of setting up obstacles for yourself in the future. Recently I had to ask my vice-president to resign from the board, we had a conflicting vision on how to move forward with the project. Asking for his resignation was a very painful process but was required for progress, and worse, it was completely avoidable! Had I calmed down during our first meeting, I would have realized the value he saw in this project was vastly different to mine and the rest of the members.

So how can you avoid this problem? Communication! While we all want progress, making sure we are progressing in the right direction is imperative. A failure to communicate properly could lead to doing a lot of backtracking. Ask potential board/committee members how they view this project, or why they think it's important and see if their views match up with yours. In addition you want people who want to help, or in a single word, have initiative. Trying to chase up everyone to see how they are going with progress should not be required unless your tasks rely on the progress made with their tasks. Our time is limited and so wasting precious hours trying to get a hold of people who don't have a keen interest in seeing things progress should not be tolerated.

Lastly, we will come across people who will want to help, have initiative but may not have the relevant skills to help you make the progress you need. This doesn't mean they can't help, but when running a company or board, less is more. There is nothing from stopping you getting them to help from time to time, but when it comes to making decisions, you want people who are either agreeing with you or are being objective about things from an experience/skills context, not because they are excited about the same things you are. That is your job as the leader to spread the excitement!

Be patient, getting things right the first time will save you a lot of pain in the future. This doesn't mean to be hesitant, follow your gut when it comes to this process and over time your intuition will evolve into a valuable asset!  

Journal of the Wantrapreneur : The Vision

We all have them; ideas, dreams, visions. After we have our grand vision like the ark for Noah, where do we go from there? We'll lets take Noah for example. He put pen to paper (Quill, charcoal, I don't know I wasn't there), and started to draw it out. Then he enlisted the help of those around them in the construction of his vision and presto, life on earth was saved!

Unfortunately, in modern times, going from vision, to planning, to execution is not as simple as badabing badaboom.

Noah didn't have to worry about validating his vision to his peers and the public.

Noah didn't have to worry about the pain of bureaucracy from his team, and other key partners

Noah didn't have to worry about raising venture capital.

Noah didn't have to....

Unfortunately we rarely hear about the trials and tribulation of the successful entrepreneur today. This can lead to people becoming disheartened after hitting the first obstacle.

I'm a serial "failer" in that I have tried and failed numerous times with a variety of projects and in life in general, but perhaps that is for another blog post.

Initially I would have a vision or a drive to complete a certain project, but unfortunately it wouldn't go much further than that. These ideas would just sit in my head, pop up in conversation and rinse and repeat until they were lost. It wasn't until I was trying to draw up dimensions for a desk I was designing did I realize the power of putting pen to paper. Even easier is using a note taking application like Evernote to quickly capture your ideas. The other great thing about writing down your ideas is that you can re-visit them and alter them. When you only use your brain, we spend so much energy recalling the idea, that we aren't able to add to them. We also run the risk of forgetting parts of the idea and this associates a negative feeling to the idea because it's now an incomplete representation of what it once was. So write them DOWN.

The other great thing about having a notebook full of your ideas, is that it empties your head of the random ideas that fill it. The first idea I had was to start selling custom electronic cigarette juices, the next idea was collapsible high heels. While there wasn't much similarity between these two projects, over time, emptying my mind of these random ideas started leaving room for new ideas that were more focused around what I am passionate about. Sharing the understanding and appreciation for life I have gained through Science to the rest of the world.

The final thing I want to talk about involving your "visions", is food for thought. Having a notebook that you can look back on, filled with your ideas is a great resource to turn to in a time of need or during a block. Often the obstacle that we face in a current project only requires a change in perception to overcome, observing the problem in a different way. Having a notebook with your ideas in it will link you back to the need that inspired those ideas as well as any headway you made on them. It is doubtful that we would think of all of our projects that we have under the same emotional and mental state. Linking back to these states through past ideas can help get you out of the current emotional and mental state. It may remind you of someone who could have insight into how to solve your problem. Or it could give rise to a completely different idea altogether. To each their own.

Impartial Decision Making for Leaders

One of the most pleasurable moments in life is when we achieve that "aha!" feeling of understanding. Many of these moments occur when taking a look into our past experiences with a newfound perspective. My new perspective was after reading The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, specifically a chapter titled "experiment and take smart risks smartly" (Heiftetz, et al., 2009). Within this chapter, decision making when we think we should not be making any decisions is discussed. Many believe that we can only make a confident decision if the odds are in our favor. From this confidence, we are then able to put our heart and soul into carrying out our decision. The tolerable level of risk for this decision may be 90-10, or 80-20. The analogy used in the Practice of Adaptive Leadership is “getting married” (Heiftetz, et al., 2009).

Photo credit high achievers network

When you get married you are as close to certain as possible that you are about to wed the "one", almost 90-10 certainty. The 10 percent could be the belief that somewhere out there you know, there is another person you could love more than the one you are about to marry. Would someone still get married if the ratio was 60-40? This situation may be more common in our lives than we realized (Heiftetz, et al., 2009).

Adaptive leadership requires us to take an almost “experimental mind-set”, so we do not get too attached to our decisions (Heifetz, et al., 2009). It takes bravery and courage to be confident in our actions when the odds aren't favourable, while holding a competing idea. Thinking experimentally also allows us to be open to failure, which allows the decision maker to learn, and gain valuable experience and insight into the situations they are faced with. This means negative emotions will not get in the way of taking the course of action with the highest chance of success (Mather M,. 2006).

Looking back on my time in the US Navy, I now realize I have witnessed this first hand on an almost daily basis. The military is an organization built upon following orders without question. Those who carry them out correctly are rewarded, while those who don't follow them are punished. This may seem pretty obvious at first, but after dwelling on this subject for a while, an emerging pattern began to arise. 

In the military there are two tiers of authority, officers and the enlisted (grunts). The officers were trained to lead, and the enlisted were trained to carry out the requests of officers. Problems occur when the enlisted rose in rank. The higher ranking you were in the enlisted tier, the more you were accountable to the officers for the enlisted who ranked bellow you. Unfortunately there was never much in the way of leadership training provided for the enlisted as they rose in rank. Rank was normally decided purely on what you knew and your time in service. Moving up in rank with the mentality of never doing anything wrong begins to cripple many in certain situations (Mellers, et al.,1999). For example, decisions had to be made often while officers were not available to give guidance. Many supervisors would prefer not to make a choice until the officer was available to provide more insight, this often led to groups falling behind schedule in maintenance. Their level of certainty in their actions was not great enough for them to avoid getting in trouble and so they would not act.

A supervisor of mine, Nathaniel Hathaway, was a natural leader (or made it look easy). He was confident with every decision he made, even when the choices he made seemed as likely to fail as they were to succeed. He was used to it, and after a while, so were we. We became more confident in his approach, which indeed was experimental like. When things did not go as planned, he would remain impartial and immediately make alterations where necessary. Acting to the best of his knowledge at the time was imperative, not taking any action in a time that calls for action, is bound to leave you worse off than you were. We don't always have time to wait for the risks to lessen, but when we treat our actions as well planned experiments, the worst case scenario is that, you'll know what not to do next time.

Heifetz, R., Grashow, A. & Linsky, M., 2009. The Practice of Adaptive Leadership. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Mellers, Barbara; Schwartz, Alan; Ritov, Ilana., 1999, Emotion-based choice, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol 128(3), Sep 1999, 332-345. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.128.3.332

Mather M., 2006, A Review of Decision-Making Processes: Weighing the Risks and Benefits of Aging. National Research Council (US) Committee on Aging Frontiers in Social Psychology, Personality, and Adult Developmental Psychology, National Academies Press ,Washington DC, USA, Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK83778/