Talked yesterday about how entrepreneurship really doesn’t allow for excuses.
I mean you can make excuses but they won’t get you far, and the ones who succeed the most are usually the ones who just keep pushing beyond those who make too many excuses and give up.
It got me thinking because I’ve certainly had my moments too.
I remember back in my very early days as an entrepreneur when I started my first “real” business, a law firm, right after moving to Toronto. One of the hardest parts of those early days was working alone, at home (because I couldn’t afford an office).
I definitely did make excuses, but I also made sure to get out where I could and probably the best decision I made was to start attending lots of in-person networking events. Through those and introductions from my friends, I slowly started building a small network in Toronto.
Now again, I wasn’t some crazy overnight success and made plenty of excuses, but I also took some action that I’m proud of.
One of the best decisions I made back then was to start my own mastermind group. Because I found it lonely mostly working alone and had met a lot of other entrepreneurs that could relate, I remember thinking “I wonder if anyone else would be interested in having a mastermind business chat once per month?”
Instead of sitting on that idea for too long, I texted 5 entrepreneurs I’d met and also gotten to know pretty well, asking if they’d be interested.
To my surprise, they all pretty quickly said “yes”.
It ended up being a huge success. We’d meet in person once per month (this was pre-Covid when people liked leaving the house :P) and each got 15 to 20 minutes to share a business update, current struggle(s) and get advice from the group. It was such a fun, refreshing chat every month and went on for a few years before two people moved to another city, another shut down his business and we went our separate ways from there.
But it was such a great experience while it lasted and a lesson to shoot your shot if you have an idea that excites you and a hunch that it may work.
I’ve been thinking of getting back into the mastermind game, although now that I live north of the city and have a baby, the in-person part may have to be dropped. But if the idea of a well-vetted, paid and professional mastermind group for business owners sounds good to you, hit “reply” and let me know.
Have a great day,
- Josh Schachnow
Canadian lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai