Since my childhood, I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset, much to my parent’s fustration. I was always curious and ready to challenge; experiment and driven to follow my curiosity across borders, without too much fear. At an age of 17, I boarded a plane on my own to England, where unknown at this time, I would spend my next 17 years of my life.
Fear of the unknown was never my true concern, more the fear of not trying to test things out. This is, of course not, what education taught me. I took my higher education in England, which was challenging for me, as English was my weakness and improving my English level was my main reason for wanting to move to England in the first place. When I qualified as a Secondary school teacher, I was surrounded by a learning environment and amazing professionals, who wanted to explore and find solutions to prepare young minds for an uncertain future environment.
My entrepreneur mindset made me engage with enthusiasm in more projects than I should have, given my part time study. As you can guess, there were hurdles, and not everything was a smooth ride, but it gave me so many learning experiences and so much inspiration, which made me the person I am today.
This background in learning drives me in everything I do.
I embarked not only on the journey of having an entrepreneur mindset, but to become a “true” entrepreneur in all aspects of the word. I had full belief in an idea and took the leap of faith, hoping that the parachute would unfold before the ground is in sight. So I started Mimir Consulting.
The words ‘Founder’ and ‘Director’ do look very cool the first time you add them to your job title, but the accompanying challenges require enormous juggling. When you realise you are not only managing yourself, but multiple job roles, you need to use the full 24 hours of the day as effectively as you can. This is often when the reality of the task you have just embarked on hits.
Self-care, self-management, networks and support structures are just some of the factors an entrepreneur needs to build, not just the things listed in the “Entrepreneur manual.” Usually, most start-ups focus on their strategy, business plan and balance sheet. It is, however, not just the books which have to balance to succeed.
Finding a balance is never easy, and it is sometimes more about constantly adjusting to the forces at play rather than being in one balance all the time. Living with an entrepreneur mindset is a 24/7 job. Yes, it is not always fun, and there are indeed dark days, but the good days and the outcome of the hustle makes it all worthwhile. However, what many fail to remember is that we don’t have to do it alone; there are plenty of places to get support and inspiration to power ourselves and maintain our healthy mindsets.
The great thing is that there are so many organisations who support this within the city and alongside many communities that can support your growth and personal development as an entrepreneur. Here is a list of just a few who may be able to support you:
Communities who can support startups:
Chance Jiang – Reading List for Founders
Dan & Young
DU Talk Startup Night – Guangzhou
Feiy – Be the change!
Hardware Massive Guangzhou
Herely
Life Line Shanghai
Startup Grind Guangzhou
Startup Grind Shenzhen
Wilosophy
If you know of others, please to contact us to let us know and we will make a future post with even more useful contacts.