Launching a Startup mobile App in Australia? How hard can it *really* be?? Downtime report!
Just a quick post to mention why I have been offline for a few days.
One of the hardest lessons I learnt when I ran my own business was that you needed to be sure to take time to look after yourself and keep yourself healthy. In fact something seemingly small can send your business off the rails – as in small business and particularly in the early stages of setting up – if you are not able to work, then nothing happens! I always recommend people to make sure they get enough exercise, sleep & time with their loved ones to keep their quality of live and passion for their projects alive.
But even if you do all this…. sometimes accidents happen.
As for me, while playing with my son a few nights ago, as I was throwing him around and over my shoulder I did some damage to myself. It wasn’t too bad that night but I awoke to acute pain in the early hours of the morning. I visited the Osteopath as soon as I could get an appointment to discover I had pinched a nerve in my neck and inflamed the surrounding vertebra & muscles. I guess that explains why the pain was so bad. Anyway, have been instructed to ice it & rest for a few days so am taking some time off everything while it heals.
In this case it only a few days off and there really wont be a great deal of impact, but it reminds me of when I was in the midst of running my own company with a team of staff and series of projects happening: I broke my wrist. It was almost 3 months till my business was back to resembling anything like where it had been previously. Although it was a hard way to learn a lesson, it was through that experience I found out about & implemented Key Person Insurance (actually it was referred to as Key Man insurance which drove me mad!). Interestingly, StartupSmart ran an article talking about this very same thing 2 days ago: https://www.startupsmart.com.au/managing-people/small-businesses-warned-over-sickie-impact/201110254317.html
The experience of being unable to function in my business for an extended period of time also made me realize how I had created a business that required me to be in it to make it function. i.e. it also taught me some VERY valuable lessons about “Founder’s Syndrome”. Understanding this made me reassess my role in the business which resulted in many positive changes that ended up improving the company and allowing us to grow more successfully.
Anyway – there is much interesting reading available about both Key Person Insurance & Founders Syndrome so hopefully they keep you entertained until I re-emerge from my pain killer induced haze and get working on this project again!
Key Person Insurance:
https://www.iselect.com.au/life/key-person/
Founders Syndrome:
6 Startup Founder’s Syndromes That Can Kill Your Startup
Founderitis – A Ten Step Recovery Program
There will also be a few upcoming guest posts to keep the content flowing so stay tuned! 