13 truths about your first 13 months in business

Read time: 57 sec.

Let’s skip the fluff.

Here are 13 truths I wish someone told me about your first 13 months in business:

1. You will make $0 for 9 months.
Maybe even 1 year.
Plan accordingly

2. You have no idea what you're doing.
You think you do, but you don't.
Confidence is the liquor of the fool.
Embrace being an idiot.

3. Nobody cares about your business.
Not your friends. Not your followers. Definitely not strangers.
Nobody even knows you exist.

4. "if you build it, they will come" is a myth

You can only learn this first hand.
Try to learn it in the first 10 days.

5. Everyone you admire spent years failing first.
Nobody gets it right on the first try.

6. You'll put in thousands of hours to make $10.
Your “hourly rate” looks delusional compared to your day job.
Startup dollars are worth 100x your hourly rate.

7. It's lonely af.
While all your friends party on weekends, you'll be stuck in your room…
Talking to yourself.

8. You’re not just a founder.
You’re customer support.
Complaint hotline.
Product manager.
And 100 more "hats.”
Generalists crush it as solopreneurs.

9. You will feel guilty doing ANYTHING besides building.
Gym? Nah.
Dinner? McD’s.
Friends? Who?

10. “No" is 10x more common than "yes."
Ghosts are even more common.
Tweets into the void.
Emails with no responses.
Learn to love it.

11. If your business doesn’t keep you up at night, quit.
You might not be cut out for this (sorry).
You’re better off with a 9-5.

12. You don’t need to be smart.
The most intelligent people I know are not business owners.
Conviction and determination will take you much further.

13. It's the craziest, scariest, most exciting thing you’ll ever do.
Better than drugs.
Better than hitting the lottery.
Better than sex.

If you made it this far, congrats—you’re one of the crazy ones :)

And Starter Story just might be what you’re looking for.

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Talk soon,

– Pat

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13 truths about your first 13 months in business

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