(H)a-ha moments of a newborn business owner

Three weeks into our mission kickstart at Ampers& House, we've had an unforgettable time so far! Being surrounded by so many companies and projects that seem to have been around since the dawn of time, I sometimes feel like I’m constantly changing diapers, discovering new challenges and surprises around every corner in this huge office room called the business world.

But I love every moment of it! Beyond excited, really! It took a while to get back to a natural breath after a deep dive into “oh-my-gawd-business-is-totally-different-than-I-thought,” but luckily, I withstood that.

For all of you wonderful creative missionaries striving for a better future for society, this might be a silly, but never far-out reminder of where it all started.

So here comes my list of 10 a-ha moments and realizations I came to, embarking on my Ampers& life-mission:

1. Plans are Overrated: 100% of all the pre-planned steps are suddenly useless. It literally goes blank page a day after it’s up and running, and it’s good like that. Discipline is key to any real achievement, but you can’t plan something you haven’t even tasted.
2. Just Start: There is no good way to start. It is already good enough to just start, breaking the cycle of thinking into the first real DO. A formulated mission is a prerequisite to success, so it is very handy to know what the heart of your business idea beats like.
3. Time Flies: Days are overwhelmingly short. Passing hour by hour, vanishing the ever-piling stock of tasks one by one, every day is but a finger snap. It is a great lesson to start thinking of the more important part of the process—staying human.
4. CEO Bootcamp: It’s a crucial time where a CEO is born (or burns, pretty much). There are natural-born heroes, like those soaked in the bleach of disciplinarian influence, but I find this kickstart playground as the best source of getting stuff together. These are the best times to figure out how to finance, manage, execute, sell, develop, market—you name it.
5. Attention War: In that respect, this era is a blasting war for attention. Like, yeah, no wonder Sherlock, I even posted this to social media, but this expression turns into an embodiment of the momentum I found myself in. Only a deep commitment, and the already mentioned understanding of a mission you are on, are the functional weaponry to help you win. Set priorities!
6. People Matter: Posting anywhere, obsessing over views or impressions, means so fragmentarily little compared to a real connection. Going sales, spreading the word, being your mission’s main face is like rejecting all the boundaries that are there. No, your dream client in any exciting location looking like the best fit is absolutely no match for a real connection that might be down the street. Networking starts local.
7. Zoom Out: ZOOM this and Google meet that, Teams all over, sure, but most importantly, keep the ability to ZOOM OUT. So boring and cliche for many who just go day in and out fulfilling in magnitudes, but we really work to live, not the opposite. There are no better moments than when the mind gets a break to just wander, super free.
8. Physical Health: Body of an athlete, mind of a stoic, spirit of a warrior. Especially the first one! The body does all the physical work to drag me places, withstand crushing postures when contemplating or doing, yet it just tends to be forgotten in the process so much.
9. Embrace Growth: Growing daily. Nothing but growth, if you allow. Rejections, fails, misunderstanding, even first success, champagne blast, tasks vanished—you name it. Attention to both opposites on the scale magnifies the momentum of growth.
10. Show Up: Show up, just show up daily. You really need YOU in those tasks you battle. It will inevitably take time to embody your mission fully, but without you, really, there is no mission at all. Yeah, even today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. Keep going.

So I do, currently crafting a website for an inspiring, unstoppable missionary and delegate for a sustainable future, Anne Helene Wirstad, and her innovative project called SolaRoof. More on that later.

#newbornEntrepreneur #ampersAndHouse #brandStrategy #ManOnAmission

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