What does resilience mean for entrepreneurs? Here’s what it looks like in practice.

We know that reslience is a core piece of entrepreneurship, but no one really shares what this looks like. Today I’d like to do exactly that: based on research, and based on my own personal experience with it.

We know that success isnt often the first result of building something.

Steve Jobs famously said:

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You pour so much of your life into this thing.”

So the question is, what makes perseverence so hard? Why is it so hard to persevere in the face of a failing product, a declining bank account, and a daily set of rejections and failures? Phrasing it that way, its not hard to see why it’s so hard.

Then the question becomes: what makes a person willing to put up with this stuff? To risk bankruptcy, to fail, to be humiliated, to face rejection after every email sent — and still at the end of the day get up, and try again.

One glaring difference sets these people apart, and it is resilience. Firstly, resilience as a result of focusing on what they love, and letting go of what other people think. Secondly, doing what they love while avoiding delusion — if this thing isn't working, what can we do to make it work.

Just get up and try again. But what makes doing that so hard? Hint: There are no guarantees — and there will never be. So why not just try again, the only thing on the line is your pride (and a bit of money).

The research

I’ll start with some research: Brene Brown identifies resilience as having several components. Resilient people believe that they can do something, take one action, to cope with their shortcomings. She indentifies three components that each contribute to our human resilience:

1. Cultivating Hope: Hope isnt some dreamy state where everything seems possible. It’s actually a state where achievement, theability to actually complete a task, is possible. Its not an emotion but a way of thinking. And it happens when: We set realistic goals, we are able to figure out how to achieve these goals (and be persistent and try again if one way fails), and we believe in ourselves.
2. Critical Awareness: Be real about what youre seeing the world. Are your expectations realistic? Or are you giving yourself unattainable goals, that no human in your place can possibly achieve. Critical wareness is about lookign at the world around you realistically. Without it, you cant set real tasks to do that would get you out of your situation, and closer to where you want to be. Look at your town, research nearby resources that can help you, dont laser focus on unattainable far away people and places — they are not here.
3. We dont numb or take the fun fast and easy path: Ever play video games all afternoon then freak out about that not getting a good grade on your test? That’s numbing. It blurs out your rational logical mind. Top get good grades: study. To grow your business: do some marketing. To start a business: build a product. It’s that simple. Don’t let numbing, and daily distractions blur your clarity of thought. And dont talk yourself out of it either. Why should I do this? Arent there a hundred people doing it? Sound familiar? Yes, but those hundred people are not you. YOUR contribution is what matters. Other people dont have your experiences, thought imagination, they cannot bring intot he world what you can.

On hope, its clear that most of us trip up on persistence — we dont get up and try again. We simply face one rejection then stop. Rejections make us lose our belief in ourselves, and thats the dangerous part. It’s important to remember, thate any human in our place will feel the same way, and that its normal. We have to go back to trusting our own intuition and faith in ourselves. We can do it.

How to be resilient

First, set realistic goals. This is so important that I’ll say it here again.

So many people set unrealistic goals and lose their resilience when that goal isnt met: A super short deadline, a profit goal thats hard to reach, a product thats impossible to build without tons of funding, the list goes on. The goal has to fit what your willing to spend, the work you can humanly do, etc. Always reality-check your goals against who you are.

Second, believe that you can achieve it.That you can stay flexible, develop alternate routes. Be persistent, determined, and able to tolerate rejection and disappointment — try again.

Third, believe in yourself.

Remove words & self talk like: “this should be faster.” “I’m not good at it.”, and replace them with: “This is tough, but I can do it.” “I can do this at my own pace.” “I want this for myself.”

Let go of disappointment, comparison, entitlement (I deserve this), and performance pressure. (Performance pressure is self talk like: if I dont achieve this now, or in a week, I’m done! It’s too hard!)

Resilience in entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship demands resilience.

The early days and years fo a company are very hard. You have to build something that didnt exist before. You have to tell people about it, and most people wouldn't want to fund you, buy your product, or even listen to you.

Be resilient.

Keep your heart open. Keep taking risks and building beautiful things, despite all the difficulties of remaining in this space. The world doesn't need more people dying slowly at a desk job, it needs people who come alive, by bringing their ideas to life.

If only entrepreneurship was that simple. Resilience is necessary to balance that line between doing what you love, and pushing for it in order to make a living out of it. It’s a fine line. If you're reading up to this far, I hope these thoughts help you, and push you forward.

If you’re interested in me as a human, you can find my latest project at https://sellou.com — I’m releasing it across the US this summer to help ceramic artists do what they love without worrying about ads, sales and marketing.