It’s been a long time since I have last written here – I don’t really count the last two posts, and even if I did, 2 posts in 3 months is not that much.

Anyway, kind of back, but still not completely – and it’s not lack of time, more like lack of subject. I could not think of anything I could write about. None, nada, zip, nil. Ideas for posts has been swimming in my head when I was relaxing, but then I stood up, and started to work, or think, or plan, and the ideas whoosh – flew away.

Now I try to get the ideas together, and sew a beautiful tapestry of words – I mean, try to type in some meaningful sentences forming a coherent post.

So, as I have written a few times in the summer, for various reasons I have started my own small company, business, which seemed like a good idea – and actually the only way to get some paying job.

Of course, I have always wanted to do it sometimes in the future, so I was content with the way things went, at least until I started to meet the traps, tricks, roadblocks and all the funny things that come with running a business.

Nothing, nothing in my previous experience as an employee has prepared me for this. School? Forget it. Sure, I have had some “Entrepreneurship Course” and we have studied some basic Marketing, and Market Research, and Business Finances, and such, but what I had to realize is that the things I have learned at college has nothing to do with reality. No connection at all. For some weird reasons, the real world works in a totally different way. Plus, all my life I was expected to behave the opposite way I have to behave now. Different mindset, different way of looking at things. But I am learning – and I hope fast enough.

The most important thing I’ve learnt this past 6 months is that I have to say No. No matter that you don’t have another contract, that you probably won’t have any income for the next month if you don’t get this one, you have to say No until the offer is good for you too, not just the other guy. Because next time he will expect you to do it with the same bad conditions, and in the long run you lose more than one month worth of income. And that’s difficult, especially when the other guy is an old co-worker, former boss, or another acquaintance of yours.

Another thing is what you really need is a LOT of discipline. Being your own boss sounds cool. “Hey, I can wake up whenever I want, I can work however I want”, but lets face it, that doesn’t work. On the one hand you still have to do a job on someone else’s terms – deadlines, meetings, deliverables -, on the other hand time has a habit of flying fast, and it is awful to start to work at 4PM with the knowledge that you have to finish something by next morning.

And last, but not the least: financial planning. Bills and taxes have to be paid on time, and there is a good chance that even if you issue the invoice right on time, you won’t get paid by the due date. So you have to plan forward at least two months. Somehow companies have the idea that paying a salary on time is important, but paying an invoice on time is optional, and they are confident that you won’t complain because “you want us to hire you in the future again, right?” – hint: this is the part where saying No can be necessary, but tough.

So that’s my last 6 months in a nutshell – I am on a learning curve, learning things I have never had the chance or the need to learn on the run, and that takes time away from everything. But I am learning – and it worth it.

So, the list so far:

1. Discipline
2. Plan ahead
3. Learn to say No

Now I wonder what other lessons will I learn.

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