It has been seven months now since I co-founded my first venture Ideation Box on June 2009, before going through the launch of Nakhweh.com, passing by the Ideation Labs and finally the process of establishing a new Multimedia and Animation House, Sketchat Creations! Well, that sounds too much for a 25 years guy with only 2 years of experience, but it doesn’t sound too much for me at all as I always act before I plan (which doesn’t sound good for a lot of people).
For the last couple of months, I can say that each minute I spent working on my ventures, projects and initiatives is a priceless experience. Definitely I had to deal with my partner, Hadi Nasereddin, who is a 10 years friend before being a partner, I had to deal with my clients, I had to deal with Nakhweh’s NGOs, I had to deal with the Ideators of Ideation Labs, I had to do Sales, Marketing, PR in addition to my main role as a Web Developer at Ideation Box.
Definitely I can’t consider that experience an ideal one but at least I’m very proud of our achievements in all of what we’ve done. Why it wasn’t ideal? well, I’m giving you some points that you can learn from my experience:
Know how to deal with your partners and co-workers:
I should admit that I failed in dealing with my partner. I’m a kind of person who thinks work is everything, I don’t care about what people call “social life” and I have no problem in working for 24 hours without sleeping and that’s what I expected from my partner, recently I figured out that not all people are the same and he doesn’t have to be like me.
One more thing about dealing with partners and co-workers; do you have a problem? do they have a problem? as a startup those problems should be fixed on the spot before they ruin the whole thing!
Prioritize:
You should always set your priorities, you have work coming? then deal with it based on the “First come first serve” model. I love to do everything together which is bad but I can’t get rid of that habit. Unless you have an exception, finish what you have then let new things in.
Don’t over promise, especially with deadlines:
Do you think you’re superman? I do! The usual conversation between me an my clients
Client: how much time does it need to be done?
Kamel: That’s so simple… tomorrow it will be done! and it’s never done…
It’s not a shame to give a far deadline as I thought, at least it keeps me in the safe side.
Manage your time:
Time management is the key factor of getting things rolling and having work done.