Neccessity and growth
The last 12 months were quite hard for me. Coming to a new country is hard. Doing Master studies, learning Android and seeking for a way to break even is not easy. Of course, I had time for side projects like Android Aalto and some time to party, and travel home, and go to USA for Startup Weekend Summit, but somehow psichologically I was constantly stressed and never knew, what is going to happen whenever I run out of savings. Thanks for the freelancing and university, I didn’t, despite being so close to it.
Happily, through sleepless nights and a lot of hustling and multi-tasking, I am now happy to share that I feel safe again. Future is clear and bright. First of all, a company from The Valley has agreed to accept me as intern for the summer. Secondly, we agreed that maybe I will able to do it in the winter, as it became obvious that this summer with Claudio we are going to launch something. As we got accepted into Summer of Startups, we are getting into it fast. Finally, university would be happy to have me for the summer, which means that I will have money for holidays this year. Overall, still a lot of work, but it is the personal development I really appreciate and funds for living have been secured.
Feeling safe is strange. For around of 10 months, I steadily was running out of cash. I needn’t reasons why to do things: I wanted to have money for basic things and to return to the comfort level, I have been used to. Now, as future is brighter, the worries have been gone. So did the need to hustle. Probably, here lies the difference between neccessity entrepreneurship and growth entrepreneurship. When hunger is gone, only most wild ones continue on and get rich. Average middle class man, after he reaches “wealth saturation point”, he no longer seeks net growth, as the marginal effort needed to significantly increase prosperity is quite high. As you get happy with what you have, you slow down.
However, comming back to my values, I want to improve living for my family and society. There too many things that are wrong now: diseases, inequality, deaths, struggles. No time to sit down if you care. I realised that I need to go outside my comfort zone, kick myself in the but and start building something that would have impact.
Just to remind myself of the teenage riot I had in my heart only few years ago:
By the highway 
Great to hear! Looking forward to the impact 😉
Money/funding is only one of the challenges in entrepreneur’s career, isn’t it? It’s quite important because it’s universal metric for success but it is not the greatest motive to do big things. When you try to rise big money you understand that every penny is worth a risk that you have to take. Comfort level is much closer then everyone thinks. Especially it is close for well educated people who can take great positions. Level of risks overtakes the money pleasure quickly because money is always calculated as the future and the risk is always present. There must always be something strong to push you for the bigger goal than just money. So strong that without money, without place to live you would be still passionate pursuing that goal.
Edvinas: thanks for the insights.
Question of comfort is probably one of the reasons, why seed funds are so keen to attract young people – their comfort level is small and they can stay there more easy than people, who got used to living on their own and getting at good enough salaries.
There should be something pushing you out of the comfort zone. Several good things that can do it are an urge for self development, a powerful idea or another person. Completely agree with you on this.
Maksim