Here to write some startup tips for student entrepreneurs. I think I signed up for this article when I was feeling ‘on top of the world’. But now, as I write, I am feeling like a fraud, feeling like, “why should I be doing this?”
After talking with so many other student startup founders, though, we all feel this way. It’s called Imposter Syndrome. If you haven’t heard much about Imposter Syndrome, there’s an AWESOME article from one of Her Campus’ writers, Danielle Solo. In a nut shell, Imposter Syndrome is when you don’t feel deserving of the hard work you have done. You feel like a fraud and you are waiting for people to ‘find you out’.
Simultaneously, you might be one of those people who just gets SO jazzed by the most random things. You get SO jazzed that you dive into a project so deeply, more than an average person might. You end up becoming a ‘middle’ expert, knowing more than the average joe, but not as much as someone with a masters in a subject or even an undergrad degree. You just have an “Internet and YouTube Deep Dive” Degree.
If you are a student startup founder, you probably are a VERY passionate person about something… or in my case, an overwhelming amount of things.
If any of the above resonates, you might benefit from some of the below tips. Included: A little bit of practicality, a LOT of self love…
- Use a calendar! I personally use Google Calendar and LOVE it.
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I am a very visual person and the color blocking of Google Calendar is great. I find that if I don’t put it on my calendar, then I don’t remember the event. If I don’t put the reminder in my calendar, I might have so all the following things accidentally sneak up on me … or worse, I’ll forget completely: friend time, coffee meetings, events, and more.
Another tip, put in ‘work time’ as a chunk – and TRY not to schedule over it. (I need that reminder too from my friends and advisors… I don’t prioritize myself and my ‘work time’ nearly enough.) Your time should be just as valuable to you as other people’s in your day. If you have 9am-2pm scheduled as ‘work time’ and you have your to-do list nagging at you, SCHEDULE YOUR MEETINGS AFTER 2PM!!!! You are allowed to, my friend.
- USE LinkedIn like nobody’s business. Here’s a cool Inc.com “Do’s and Dont’s” article from Kevin Daum. He has some great ideas there.
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My biggest personal tip for LinkedIn: If you hear about someone cool or see a cool Ted Talk that inspires you, reach out and try to connect. If you have a reason to connect to people, no one minds the connection. The BEST reason to reach out, is when you need their expertise on something that’s currently challenging your business. A reminder: everyone who knows even just a little bit more than you on a subject is an expert compared to you. Treat people as experts when they know more than you and feel free to call them experts. Everyone appreciates being seen and being valued.
- Make separate accounts using a business related email address. (Meaning: everything shouldn’t live on an account attached to your personal email.)
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I use Canva ALL the time to make social media and online content. Currently, everything lives on my personal account that I use for articles (like this) and for school work or personal projects. Because my business started as a personal project, EVERYTHING is on my personal Canva account. My business cards, my social media material … and now, my team member’s business card. Because my team is growing, I need to be smarter and move everything over to an account that is attached to a business Gmail account. (Still a free email account – it’s just one that I can give my team members access to! — think, companyname.info @gmail.com)
Eventually you’ll want to have someone else help you with the marketing and content development, so set yourself up to do so with a bit more ease.
- Don’t underestimate your side projects/personal projects.
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If you are super jazzed about a topic, DIG IN. Because I love connections, I could go on a RANT about how everything you do and every person you meet has an opportunity to connect to something you may encounter later on.
An example: I am really fascinated by Digital Contact Lenses lately. For a class I was able to write a feature article on the topic. I had to interview at least 3 people for the article. I had SO much fun with the interviews that I decided to keep doing it for fun. I decided to turn it into a podcast. SO, now I have a platform to talk with people about a cool topic. I can now use this platform to connect with people. The person I am interviewing is able to get to know about me and I get to know about them in the process of the interview. If we connect well, then there are some great opportunities to stay in one another’s networks later on. You get to make friends and new peers in academic thought/exploration.
If you have fun talking about a topic, chances are, someone else will have fun with it too. Your free time can turn into something rewarding and allow you to meet new, cool people in the process.
Also, who knows… that personal project might just turn into your next business venture. (Like my children’s book series for mental health … or a podcast about new technology + ethics.)
- Remember that YOU ARE A HARD WORKER.
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I think we don’t let ourselves take breaks enough as student startup founders. There is a guilt in relaxing and taking care of our bodies, minds, and souls. We feel guilty for going out with friends, for spending time reading a book for pleasure, for even watching TV sometimes. We feel a quiet competition with our peers who are building their venture, and we feel bad if we don’t spend as much time in the office as they do.
But burnout is real. I’ve linked to this in another article I’ve written, but I’ll link to it again: “How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation”.
YOU are a hard worker, and, my friend, you can allow yourself to relax into knowing that if you take a break, there is no way in h*ll that you will slack off indefinitely. It is not in your nature to. You can’t help yourself but dive in and work hard. SO, allow yourself to tune into the earth around you and to tune in to the energy that might be feeding you this gumption. Allow yourself to breathe and sink back into whatever makes up the earth around you.
Sink in.
Xoxo to you, my friend. Reach out to me if you need any help or need an ear to vent to. We all have personal missions to ‘save the world’ and it can get overwhelming sometimes. Your friend – Paris