“Second startups are more public”/ change your job

Jan. 13 “Second startups are more public”: I cut out this National Post article on Apr. 2, 2012 by Erin Bury.  This talks about how the entrepreneurs who had a successful business, they come with a second business.  However, there is more pressure and higher expectations of: “Will they be successful the second time around?”  Here’s a short article:

First-time entrepreneurs face multiple challenges, having to start from scratch to build a network of media contacts, potential investors and customers. But one advantage they have over serial entrepreneurs is they can make mistakes in relative anonymity, and chalk them up to a learning experience.

However, for entrepreneurs with a successful business already under their belt, the spotlight is on them when debuting a new company. Flickr founder Caterina Fake recently launched Pinwheel to media fanfare and all eyes are on her, watching to see if she can avoid the startup sophomore slump.

“You have to be aware of it and you have to not be afraid to fail. You end up having all of these interviews with reporters who are crediting the reason you’re getting all this attention not to what you’re currently working on, but for the past success,” she said in an interview last May.

“To fail is even more risky than when you did it the first time around because the expectations are such that ‘the founder of well-known company X is now doing a new thing, and maybe it’s not actually very good’ and that’s actually a greater fall from grace than if nobody knows who the heck you are.”

Toronto entrepreneur Jeremy Wright knows the pressure to avoid the sophomore slump. The founder of popular blogging platform b5media recently launched his second company 23press after recovering from what he calls “founder burnout.” (He resigned from the company he founded four years ago, and many of his new staff were b5media employees.) The new company aims to help people manage their blogs or content site, and it recently released its first product Move That Blog.

While there might be more scrutiny on second-time entrepreneurs, attention is rarely a bad thing, Wright says, adding that he’s applying lessons from his first experience to make sure he doesn’t make the same mistakes twice.

“The two biggest lessons I learned at b5media were to never sacrifice culture and people for growth, and to always put customers and their experience first,” he said. “The moment I lost those as CEO was the moment the company’s growth slowed and I lost motivation.”

Now, he’s looking to make his second company a bigger success than his first. “I think b5media was in some ways a success and in some ways a failure. I feel as much pressure to make this work as I feel to exceed what we built at b5,” Wright said. “More than anything, although, I’m flat out excited to be building again, working with customers again and to have an awesome team to work with again.”

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/04/02/second-startups-are-more-public/?__lsa=5038-56bd

My opinion: When I was reading this, I was thinking about TV shows.  There are TV shows that had a really good first season like Dark Angel and The OC.  The second season comes, and it “jumps the shark.”  That phrase means that it wasn’t very good after the first season and it won’t be good again.

However, I will give points to people who still go after their dreams even though the second time around, they may not be as successful.  It’s about following your dreams and not being afraid to fail.

Change your job: I cut out this Globe and Mail article “Don’t love your job?  Then Change it” by Jim Gray on Jul. 28, 2010.  This is a job advice article, but it’s also about inspiring you to live a positive life.  Here’s the whole article:

I just turned 60. I haven't shot the lights out in my career - certainly not financially, and definitely not in comparison with some of my friends - but I absolutely love my work. I do it well. And that makes me a success.

There have been some rough times along the way, most of my own making. In fact, I've made every mistake in the career development handbook, and then some. But I got stuff right, too. I came to understand a few things along the way. Consider them career lessons from a 60-year-old, who still has a great deal to learn.

FIND YOUR PASSION

Communication has always been my passion, but in my mid-20s I inexplicably left a good job in my chosen field to go into real estate. It was a disaster. Over the last 35 years, I've often recalled my misery during that vocational malfunction. Mercifully, it was brief. The older I get, the more outspoken I become on the subject of passion and work. That's because I've seen so many people, including highly-paid professionals, miserable in their careers. They stay for the paycheque, the pension and the perks. But they pay a heavy price. When you're unhappy in your career, every aspect of your life suffers. The cumulative effect, after years in a job you loathe, can be devastating.

Yes, you have to make a living, and support your family and meet your financial obligations. That's understood. But you live in Canada - arguably the best country in the world in which to find work that brings you meaning, and then get paid for doing it.

Recently, at a political fundraiser, I was chatting with two sharp, 20-something university graduates about their uncertain career plans. I think I shocked them.

"Only do what you love," I said. "If you hate your job, quit. Find out what makes you happy, what fulfills you, and then do it - whatever it takes."

EMBRACE OPTIMISM

I've learned that what separates accomplished leaders - the top 5 per cent - from the rest of the pack is that they've made the conscious decision to be optimistic, however challenging the circumstances.

One optimistic person can galvanize a room, or an organization. It's easy to be negative and cynical; you'll have lots of company. But it won't get you ahead. Negativity undermines you and your credibility, and after a while no one will want to be around you any more, let alone do business with you.

There are fewer experiences more unsettling than dealing with gloomy, pessimistic colleagues, seething with resentment over some real or perceived slight and making everybody in the vicinity queasy. The behaviour simply means they haven't done the work - either to take on the personal issues that may be affecting their attitude, or honestly examining the professional setbacks and disappointments that leaders deal with forthrightly and learn from.

It's a cliché, but ever true: You learn more from your failures than from your successes, but only if you have the courage to thoroughly examine the failures. Now, after you've learned from them, move on.

BE GRATEFUL

The older I get, the more time I spend checking out the obituaries. I'm continually moved by the photographs I see there, pictures of attractive, successful men and women, many in their 40s and 50s, now gone.

Certainly, when they began their careers they weren't expecting to die young of cancer, or ALS, or a motor vehicle accident, but they did just the same. Ambition is a wonderful thing, and we need it to be successful.

But ambition without acknowledging the fragility of life reveals a lack of perspective. Ambition without gratitude - for your health, your family, your opportunities - reveals a lack of character. 

The most successful people I know are immensely grateful for their good fortune, and never take it for granted. They're aware it can all disappear in a heartbeat. And one day, it will.

GIVE BACK

In the fall of 2003, I left a secure, well-paying job with a prestigious national firm to go out on my own as a communication consultant. Within a few months I was struggling, and deeply concerned about the future.

That's when I asked a competitor, a popular presentation skills coach named Peter Urs Bender, for help. And help he did. Over a lengthy lunch, Peter provided me with much-needed support and advice, and for more than a year afterward continued to encourage me. Eventually, my business began to gain traction.

In March of 2005, Peter died of cancer. He was 60. I think about him a lot these days. Peter knew that success - true success - comes from giving back, while you're around, and after you're gone.
Lesson learned.

https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20100728/CAGRAY28ATL