raw dial 0 // the startup spiral

Time for some real updates.

These last few weeks have been a real whirlwind in terms of life events and my thoughts.

Doubts, fear, anxiety—all three of them began to creep up on me like goons cornering me in a dark alleyway.

The past month has been a real test of my perseverance and mental strength. So many sleepless nights, pondering over questions like

"Will it all work out in the end?", and

"Did I make the right choice?" echoes through my brain all night.

I left my job in December after working for a year, to start my AI agency that I've been planning to for a while. I finally felt like I had upskilled myself enough and leaped head-first into the world of business and "be your own boss."

Since then, I have done all kinds of different things to keep my agency alive and pumping:
sales, marketing, creating landing pages, copywriting, understanding buyer intents & deal cycles, and learning how customer-client psychology works—

It's been nothing short of chaos.

With each passing week, this newsletter I write has become my escape of sorts—a place where I can empty my brain and hope that someone out there will relate and tell me that everything is going to be just fine.

Truth is, I've never been more doubtful of myself than in recent times. 😶‍🌫️

So, I went and did some soul-searching (I hit the gym and rode my bike) and I am back here with better clarity for myself.

1. "Life is both the rainy and sunny days. Be glad you get to experience the bad times—not everyone gets to experience being broke and starting an agency."

This really put things into perspective for me.

I mean, what is life without failures? It'd be boring as hell, to be honest.

The best superhero stories are when the hero is defeated but comes back stronger. People love a good comeback story.

Instead of drowning in the million things I need to do in my business every day, I am slowly starting to see them as opportunities to learn.

It's problem-solving at its finest.

This isn't the kind of problem we did back in 10th grade with a pencil. This is real life. Not fixing this problem, will lead to *real* consequences.

This leaves me no choice but to sit down and work through it. And in doing so, I learn and become better every day, because trust me:

You'll never run out of problems (opportunities) when starting a business.

2. "Patience is the name of the game."

I have repeated this to myself over and over and over again in my head.

It's really hard sitting in four walls all day, working on something that:

A) Has no guarantee of success, and even if you do,
B) Has no definite timeline of when you will succeed

The last thing we humans can deal with is uncertainty.

We have evolved to be more certain and definite about things as technology and science developed throughout the years.

So, to put yourself in a situation like this really takes a lot out of you.

I knew what I was getting myself into.

I knew the rules of the game when I entered this arena last December.
But it's nothing like when reality actually kicks in.

But I've made my peace with it, and here's what I know for a fact:

Do I know if I'm going to win? No.

Will I keep trying if I don't win? You bet.

Patience is the name of the game.
And it's got only one rule:

You win as long as you don't quit.

So there you have it. Two things that I've learned from my recent downhill battle.

I've been meaning to share a little more about how my weeks have been, and here you go.

Raw as it comes. No drafts.

Let me know if you'd like to see more of these raw dials; maybe I'll make it a monthly recap kinda thing.

Alright cheers, and have a lovely week ahead, you. 🫵🏽

See you next week.

p.s. if you aren’t subscribed already, do me a favor and click this button below. It makes sure you get your newsletter right away, every Monday 9 AM on the dot.