I felt something what makes you write sometimes. I don’t know maybe it is about throwing certain emotions and feelings out of oneself. Sometimes there is such a feeling inside which makes you write and speak. Today, it was the day when I did want to.
Just by observation I came to the conclusion that enthusiasm sweeps me off my feet. While building startup we meet with publishers, bookstores and generally deal with book market. While gaining new customers we meet so-called haters and malcontents. My conclusion is that without enthusiasm you cannot go forward. You can’t just do it and that is the fact. If you see worn-out marketing manager in Polish publishing house, the man without energy, saying with his squinted eyes: „well, your application is fine but this is future”.
What can you tell this man?
One should tell him to quit his job and find a better one, for marketing manager, marketing I repeat, can’t be bored and have no energy. This is him who is responsible for the future of a company he is representing. Meanwhile he is not willing to step into this future. He thinks that, when this future comes closer, he will step into it.
Enthusiasm allows to kill fear, boredom and stress. It grows from inside, it appears in the moments of doubt. It is very important. I’m rarely bold enough to make a radical statement but in this case I want to emphasize my certainty. If you don’t have the enthusiasm in yourself – you’re gone! Where does the enthusiasm come from? I think it is a combination of: regular physical exercises, faith in what you do, work in a way you like, and open-mindedness.
Regular exercises – it is just so obvious how difficult it is to find time and will to move your body.
Faith in what you do – I’m not a psychologist and I don’t know the scientific principles of this problem. However, if you sow grass in your garden with the conviction that it will wither because it withers every year, this will be an action without faith. If you prepare a report for your boss and you know anyway that he will not use it, this is an action without a faith. If you build up startup and you know that people want your product or service this is an action with faith, even when you have an illusion. My startup idol is Christopher Columbus, the best startup man in the world. He believed he would reach the shore! I suppose it is within our competence to take care about your faith. If you do startup and have any doubts whether your boss uses what you deliver then you must take care about dissolving these doubts. Don’t blame your boss, because you are responsible for your level of faith.
Work the way you like – it is super important in my opinion. If you like to work in your underwear and a cigar in your mouth, do it this way. That’s all I can say. Why startup? Ha, and this is what I love – for in startup possible is something which is not possible in corporation. Only in startup you can sit in your underwear with a cigar in your mouth and you’ll still be building up value and rocking. In corporation your boss approaches you and says: where is your fucking suit? Obviously the notion „work the way you like” doesn’t only refer to clothing dimension, if you like to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and work till 9:30 and then go to the swimming pool for an hour, it’s cool, startup allows you to do it. However there is one “but” – freedom is not free (I read such a sticker on the bumper of big Buick in the USA). If you have a flexible time you have the responsibility, i.e. while being at the pool it might turn up that the server is down and then it would be your responsibility. Eventually everyone should work the way they like.
Open-mindedness – again the subject I am no expert on, but I can say something as a man. Enthusiasm grows somewhere in the land of an open mind. It makes us look at new circumstances with a smile. Open-mindedness cultivates enthusiasm in a certain way. When we see a black man who is a Methodist, we can either say that his faith is interesting or we can say as well: go away heretic! Openness balances on extremes, it makes us get to know something different, gather information in the head, mix these pieces of information and blend them with the information we have. Eventually we’ll obtain something which has a label “made in enthusiasm country”. I don’t know how to call it but a mixture of something new is created. Something that says: “now I have a unique mix with which I can do this and that. That’s where the enthusiasm grows in saying: “thanks to my openness I have something unique which gives me an advantage”. That’s where the enthusiasm is born and it gives us boundless possibilities.
I ask myself a question why there is often a lack of enthusiasm in these publishing houses, bookstores etc.? The enthusiasm is missing because some of the listed elements are missing. Maybe the person who we speak to does not spare any time for sports, maybe he or she works the way they hate. Going further in this argumentation maybe they don’t see a sense of their work, or they are thick-skulled who think only in one proper way.
Fortunately when startup draws you in it smashes everything into pieces. It builds up its value due to a fact that it concentrates active people who believe in what they do. At the same time startup ruthlessly chews up those who are withdrawn and don’t see any sense in their everyday life.
