The Accidental Entrepreneur, 2nd Edition

AND THEN YOU WIN …

Now what?

So what happens when you climb your Everest? Does the journey ever actually end? I would say no. We humans need a purpose. Going on the Boost journey was not only a purpose, it was an obsession and I had to dedicate everything I had to it to make it work. There was no life balance. There was no catching up with friends. At times, there were no dinners at night, because I was too tired — and also needed to do some important job that needed finishing. There was no holiday where I could go away and not think about work. In the early days there was just Boost. We all talk about work–life balance, but there is seriously no such thing when starting a business.

So what do you do once you have climbed your Everest? You try to create balance. I could not give up work and I would not want to, because I love how problem-solving makes me feel. I love the challenge. I even like the negatives because this is when you go into problem-solving mode. The big difference is, this time, I have learned many, many lessons — and I know there are many more to go — and I am now more prepared for whatever life throws at me.

What drove me in the early days was fear. Fear of failure; fear of losing everything; fear that people would actually find out that I was winging it and trying to work it out along the way (what do they say — ‘fake it until you make it'?), while inside I was not as confident as I appeared to be. Now I have a great balance and I'm a better person because ...