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My biggest business lesson from 2019 starts with this:
One of the most painful things that ever happened to me was shutting down @elementaledge in 2017 after spending 12 years trying to build an international-level multimedia studio.
At the core of my failure were two things:
One of the most painful things that ever happened to me was shutting down @elementaledge in 2017 after spending 12 years trying to build an international-level multimedia studio.
At the core of my failure were two things:
1. My constant inability to bring in consistent business.
Marketing, sales or business development were not within my skillset. I hated it. I was exceptionally good on the creative side, but awkward and introverted on the client side. I couldn't close deals to save my life.
Marketing, sales or business development were not within my skillset. I hated it. I was exceptionally good on the creative side, but awkward and introverted on the client side. I couldn't close deals to save my life.
Lessons:
a) Founders have to do the tough things, and the toughest of things is selling the vision to the team and to the clients. For introverted tech-focused founders like myself, this is where a business-savvy co-founder would have brought much-needed balance to the force.
a) Founders have to do the tough things, and the toughest of things is selling the vision to the team and to the clients. For introverted tech-focused founders like myself, this is where a business-savvy co-founder would have brought much-needed balance to the force.
Entrepreneurs have to master the art of rejection, internal and external. But let me tell you, it [censored] hurts.
We never talk about failures, yet they are more than the wins. So let me share just a bit about the tough side of my work.
Thread.
We never talk about failures, yet they are more than the wins. So let me share just a bit about the tough side of my work.
Thread.
1. In 2016 and 2017, I got rejected for ALL the grants and fellowships I applied for. ALL. And those were the years I applied EVERYWHERE. Because we needed money, fast.
1.a [ The only win in 2017 was one fellowship, The African Visionary Fellowship, which I didn't even apply for but it changed me and @FundiBots . Basically one of our funders saw how much African founders were struggling to raise money and decided to do something about it. ]
