Steven Bartlet, CEO of Flight Group, Thirdweb and The Diary of a CEO, expressed and shared his concerns online when he started becoming an entrepreneur. He also said that these mistakes are things that other entrepreneurs don’t place that much importance on.
Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely journey, especially for him. He has wished that he could have thought about it more but he didn’t. He views the journey of being an entrepreneur as something that is called No Man’s Land, which he referred to when he first started a business.
“It’s the gap between both trenches where it’s very lonely, very dangerous and nobody wants to go.”
Building and maintaining social connections
Entrepreneurs may not prioritize investing time and effort in building social connections and support networks. It could be due to being so absorbed in doing business that they cannot find time and space to create or maintain connections. This includes maintaining relationships with friends from home, forming new connections in their entrepreneurial journey, and seeking out communities or groups for support.
“ I think I would have been able to show up better if I had invested a couple of hours a week in trying to connect with some kind of group, some kind of social group.”
Having a community
Entrepreneurs may underestimate the value of being part of a community or group. Bartlet emphasizes that having a community to rely on can help alleviate stress and loneliness during challenging times.
Addressing loneliness
Entrepreneurs may not adequately address feelings of loneliness that can arise during the entrepreneurial journey. Bartlet suggests that loneliness is a common experience in the early stages of entrepreneurship, but it’s important to acknowledge and actively combat it by seeking social connections and support.
Avoiding Burnout
When everything is handled alone and there are big dreams to achieve, entrepreneurs might overlook their own state of well-being in the pursuit of success. Both mental and physical health are important and it can be easy to burn out when someone is working continuously. With that, Bartlet reflects on his own experience of burning out due to excessive work and loneliness, suggesting that investing time in social connections could have helped prevent this.
“I thought it didn’t matter and so I think I kind of burned myself out a little bit and got myself very lonely with my toxic workaholism.”
Overall, the key takeaway is that entrepreneurs often don’t prioritize building and maintaining social connections and support networks, which can lead to increased stress, loneliness, and burnout during the entrepreneurial journey.
It is advisable for entrepreneurs to find their own tribe, so that having like-minded individuals could make the world a much better place for mutual encouragement, sharing experiences and knowledge and staying motivated together.
