As a serial entrepreneur, I went through seven “What’s Next” phases. I guided countless founders through phases of searching for their next thing.
Here are some points that I learned.
1) We tend to overemphasize avoiding a painful experience. People who leave their jobs tell me how they want to prevent the harmful elements in their search for the next thing—my advice: Don’t move away from something. Move towards something new.
2) We perceive a lot of pressure to find our new role. We often try to keep our CV intact, and we think others might observe that we still haven’t found anything new. We might be slacking. Better: Give yourself ample time. It often takes ten years to be successful at something new. It is ok to spend a year to find the right thing.
3) In our new opportunity, you will bring your personality, with all the positive and negative. You can’t run away from yourself, But you can work on yourself.
4) Aim high. This super valuable piece of advice was given to me by a family friend when I did not know what to do after school, and some studies were considered very hard. In the end, I took the more challenging option and succeeded. You can safely say the same for your new venture: Try to do the hard stuff. You can correct to the easier path along the way.
5) Follow the money. In sectors like climate and health, folks want to do what is right. But time and again, it shows that you must build a profitable business to have something sustainable. Bill Gates did not start in saving the planet. He started making a lot of money first, which enabled him to do good stuff.