Module 9 - Taking care of yourself
2. Final thoughts from entrepreneurs
We started this manual with thoughts from other agrifood entrepreneurs on what they wish they’d known before starting a business in this space, let’s end in a similar fashion. Here are some final thoughts, we hope you enjoy reading them.
“You’ve got to get a real balance… it’s a cliché but: work hard, play hard. I very much live my life like that. I work really hard during the weekdays, if you need to get up early, get up early, if you need put in the hours, do. But on the weekend, really switch off, see your friends, don’t check your emails. Go on holiday. It’s quite hard because you’re short on time and money when you’re in a startup but you need to find a way. Make sure you get that balance.”
-Lucy Wright, Co-Founder at Nice
“Think of what one’s boundaries are and try to stick to them. People have different boundaries. All managers should havethis conversation with their reports so that boundaries are set and respected.”
-David Rosenberg, CEO & Co-Founder at Aerofarms
“When I tell people I had to go for the majority of a year without a real salary they often assume I must have been very confident of success – but of course for the majority of the time I wasn’t. It comes with the territory. To my mind this is the ultimate job of the entrepreneur: to create something out of nothing, to commit when there is nothing to commit to. You can attract employees when the story sounds compelling and when salaries can be paid. But all solutions are unclear at first, and those solutions need to be made clear enough for others to get on board. I built a side-business that could pay the company’s bills. I also had part-time – very part-time – jobs lecturing, and running entrepreneurship events for the university, which allowed me just about to pay bills while focusing full time on the business. You need to find creative ways to get through it and certainly shouldn’t jump in blindly, but when it’s time to commit this has to take first place.”
-Tom Simmons, Founder & CEO at Cambridge Glycoscience
“Frankly, the way I avoid burnout is solely through exercise. If I’m not getting regular exercise, I notice my stress level peaks and I’m performing way below standard. I also sleep better when I’m getting regular exercise.”
-Marc Zornes, Co-Founder at Winnow Solutions
“To prevent burnout, I’ve really enjoyed attending conferences and meeting with students and industry groups. Although this sounds counterintuitive, I find it so energizing to be around people who yearn for our products and are so excited by what we’re doing. It helps me take a step back and appreciate just how far we’ve come. It’s so easy to lose sight of that when we’re head down in the everyday challenges of building a company.”
-Arturo Elizondo, CEO & Co-Founder at Clara Foods
“We strive towards a “balanced life”, rather than work/life balance, because when you’re an entrepreneur working from home, the two can become very mixed! As we’ve grown the business and the team however, we’ve both achieved a much more balanced life – which is important, because the startup journey is a series of marathons, not a sprint, and so it’s essential to avoid burnout. We both carve out time during our working days to exercise. In the early days, we used to feel quite guilty about it, but now we recognise that if we’re to perform at our best then we need to be mentally and physically fit and exercise is critical for this. Plus, I find that I have many of my best insights and inspirations for OLIO when working out, so it really is killing two birds with one stone!”
-Tessa Stuart, Co-Founder at Olio
“We’ve baked mental health, wellbeing and finding balance into being a key part of the daily conversation at Growing Underground. It’s part of all reviews through the business so there is no stigma to discuss when people are feeling stressed or pressured. We encourage people to find balance, to remember there will always be more to do, that they must take at least one weekend and night off per week, that they must mediate/exercise/eat well, celebrate the small wins and that they must talk about something other than work to friend (because they really don’t give a f**k as much as you do about it all)”.
-Steven Dring, Co-Founder & CEO at Growing Underground
“Make sure you get a lot of help/reflection in developing as an entrepreneur: with a coach, peer to peer learning with other entrepreneurs, events/reading. And keep a check on the purpose: Am I still doing what I really want to do? Personal alignment with company purpose.”
-Willem Sodderland, CEO at Seamore
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. I’m often my own worst critic and it isn’t helpful. Remember that you can’t achieve anywhere near as many of your goals if you’re not taking care of yourself – so taking care of yourself is really the first step to taking care of your business!”
-Kate Hofman, Co-Founder and CEO at GrowUp Urban Farms
