by Luis Matte Diaz
A reflection by Luis Matte Diaz, New Educational Consultancy, Crossover Education leader.
One arm is for social media, another for sales, another for the website, another for engaging with your audience, and the next is to try to hold everything together. If you still have one extra arm, you can use it for your personal life. It is pretty exhausting indeed, and contrary to the title of this piece, we are not octopuses; we have two arms.
Nonetheless, what makes you behave like an octopus even though you cannot keep it up most of the time? Well, it is the dream you want to share. Your startup in your head has bones, flesh, skin, and soul. You want other people to look at it the same way you picture it in your head, but how could they do that if you are still only in the bones? That is why you are not only an octopus but a lonely one.
Driven by the exhaustion and the willingness to have others on this journey, I have invited others to share this dream. Nevertheless, it is difficult to transform them into reliable arms at first, especially if they do not share your dream. How can you seduce collaborators when you do not have the necessary resources to pay for their work – commissions? Commissions is that little word that most startups and freelancers are scared to hear, but sadly, it is the one we listen to everywhere.
So, how do you invite people to your startup? You need to develop another strong arm that takes care of, listens to, teaches, supports, invites, and comforts them—in other words, by becoming a real leader. That is why, in the beginning, new helpers can feel like extra weight, but you always need to see the long term. With patience, time, and consistency, they start developing their lonely octopus dream, but this time, it is a dream that is already shared because you, as a leader, could finally trespass on what was in your head to them.
Only then can you retrieve one of your arms and perhaps two of them, since the one you use to comfort your new helper can be used for other things or just put to rest, and since you invested in them, then they might take the whole lead in one of your many responsibilities, like for example the website. Yes, no longer WordPress horrible blocks for you; now you can focus as a less stressful octopus to improve your content. Until you have the energy to reach out to another helper, and so on.
I encourage everyone to be conscious of this reality of new leaders and startups. Behind what you see in these new leaders, some are just romantic stars of an idea they want to share and invite people to jump into. Therefore, every time you could avoid a commission and give a payment, give free advice, or just listen to them venting, you will be contributing to having one less octopus in an environment they do not belong and help them regain some of the necessary control to have a more comfortable life while still perusing their dreams.
Luis Matte Diaz is the Founder & CEO, Crossover Education
To connect with Luis on LinkedIn, click here
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