“Remember, you only have to succeed the last time.” Brian Tracy

Having been in the position of pushing myself to close that elusive first deal as also managing people who are striving to hit that landmark milestone, I have developed this strange love hate relationship with this stage in a startups life. When I look back to my first startup where we were a selling designing and printing service, I realise what a great learning experience it was for all of us. We were a bunch of 21 year old students with no background, no experience and no past clientele. We had to figure out very quickly what aspect we could compete with our competitors on, it turned out to be customer service. Our entire business model worked because being university based we could cater to the large design and print requirements of the university in a more personalized manner.

It took us around 4 months to close our first ‘real’ deal. We were constantly pushed around, looked down upon, our calls were not returned and most importantly we were constantly pressured to reduce our prices because we were ‘students’. So given all of that, you are probably wondering what the ‘love’ aspect for this stage in a startup is. It came from the fact that for the first time in our lives we had to prove to ourselves that we could do something on our own. Call it ego, inner strength or a magical drive, there was a voice inside you which kept on saying “You Can Do This”. That is the voice which has helped me stay the course as an entrepreneur.

Over the course of this week, I am going to outline some basic but fundamental concepts which need to be kept in mind when you are in the position of pushing yourself or your team to close that first deal. This is a time in entrepreneurial life where will, determination and drive are tested to the limit. This is  a defining and testing time to check whether you have it in you or not, this is the stage where many discover that this path was not meant for them. Use this stage in your startup life to identify within yourself  what drives you, how you face adversity and what your threshold levels actually are. Most importantly enjoy this time, discover if you can learn to love what you do. In the end, that is all that matters. When you do something you love doing, you will never have to work another day in your life. Best of luck!