I still can’t believe that is true, but it is!

Startup founder is a title for other people…

Is the first thought I had.  But then I was reminded that, no, in fact, I AM a startup founder.  Yes, yes I am.  I am not thinking about doing it, I AM doing it.  I’m hiring developers, defining a product, working through business plans and marketing ideas. I’m working on this thing.

But, when I think of start-up founders…

I still think of a lot of other people.  Like, Naveen (Foursquare), Loic Le Meur (Seesmic), Jason Fried (37signals), Hiten Shah (Kissmetrics).  You get the idea.  I think of those who now have some traction, some publicity, and are months & years into their thing.  So, OF COURSE I don’t think I’m a founder like them.  I’m at the beginning, beginning.  I’m at the place that these guys were at a long time ago (in startup years!).  I am a startup, I’m just not in the same place, I’m at that place that most people never see publicly.  What a great thing to realize!

So now, I say to people, I’m a startup founder…

And I leave it at that.  I don’t add on the consulting gig I may have to help bring in some revenue, I don’t mention what I used to do, I don’t mask it.  When people ask what I do, I tell them… “I’m starting a company, I’m a startup founder.”

I admit, it still feels weird, but, every single day, it feels more real.  I’m getting more comfortable in this skin.  Maybe time is helping, maybe the writing of checks in helping, or maybe… just maybe… I see that I am doing the work to make something happen and am starting a company.  For real.  It’s not just a dream anymore, it is reality.  I am doing this… now.

So I leave you with this…

What is it that you aren’t claiming because you think you haven’t done what others in your space have done, yet?  Well, I say… as others have said to me… you ARE doing it NOW.  Claim it.  Remember that those you’re most likely comparing yourself to, were at this stage once too… you just hadn’t heard about them yet.

Yes, I am a Startup Founder, and that feels good.

This first week has been…

Crazy, exciting, fun, stressful.  It has had so many ups and downs I stopped counting.  It has also been a week that reminded me to always… ALWAYS… trust my intuition.  I stopped trusting it for a second.  Why?  Because everything was so topsy turvy that I did not trust anything my body was telling me.

It took a second time around to trust…

That my intuition was right.  It also took a second look to figure out what it was actually telling me.  As I sat there, staring it right in the face, my body tensed, my mind raced and I knew that having this reaction to the same thing, twice, was not a coincidence.

I talked it out, and in doing that I had a BIG epiphany, knew what was causing the physical reaction, and trusted my intuition.  The second I did, I felt lighter and less stressed.  When I say lighter, I mean, physically lighter.

What have I learned?

That I’m going to make time to be in touch with my body.  That in doing this, I will hear it when it is telling me something.  That I will hit the pause button when I need to, will step away from things when I need to and will even get rid of things when I need to.  That I will only surround myself with those things and people I can trust right now, because I’m still in the beginning.  Anything that causes me to lose focus and feel stressed for no reason, is not allowed.

I also learned that I’m in this ‘starting my own business’ thing for many reasons.  To try it, to offer a product I’m excited about, to give people a tool that is in their price range and allows them to do things that are uber cool, to make a living, to work with people I’m excited to be around and do business with.

I am my own boss…

And that is the most important lesson I learned from this.  This is my idea and my company and I’m going to lead it as such.  If I wanted a boss telling me what to do every second, I’d go back to the corporate world where I had a boss I really liked.

Trust… trust… T.R.U.S.T. your intuition.  It will tell you when you’re getting off track… and will save you lots of stress and hurt.