Diary of an Entrepreneur – Bono Syndrome
Welcome back to our Diary of an Entrepreneur Series – Part One
Cultural Attitudes:
Ok, so you are probably reading the title of this blog post thinking what is your man going to say here? A friend of mine summed up what ‘Bono Syndrome’ is. Basically, Bono gave insight into the cultural differences between the Americans and Irish, with respect to getting on with life and trying to be successful, you know, make a go of things, try to earn an extra few coppers. Quite simply, Irish people, for the most part, are begrudgers, and want to see you fail and think ‘who does your man think he is, with his fancy blog posts‘ etc, and when you fail say ‘ah sure we could see that coming a mile away‘.
I’m not trying to start a riot here or anything, but Bono said that Americans on the other hand tend to aspire to be the best, rise to the top, pat each other on the back etc. Now I know these are broad stereotypes, but there is a hint of truth to them too. My experience has been 50/50. I’ve had people wanting and waiting to see me fail and I’ve had others who have been whopping and cheering, bending over backwards. And I’ve figured, you actually need both. Why? Everything isn’t rosy and it helps to have someone try and bring you down because it makes you question everything. If we patted each on the back the whole time then we’d never see any of the potential pitfalls or dangers because nobody was brave enough to point them out to us, either out of spite or a willingness to help. Similarly, when you’ve been broken down, chewed up and spat out, having a small glimmer of hope, a ray of sunshine, can make the darkest of days seem bright.
I remember in 2016, I jumped aboard the IBYE competition and I couldn’t believe that there were so many people feeling the same thing. It was amazing and really showed that you are not alone on this journey. I’ve been fortunate to have had some excellent mentors along the way, both young and old. You see, people think that being an entrepreneur is this fancy title and you may have notions of yourself. I consider myself so lucky to be surrounded by a supportive family, the best staff and great friends. For all the people starting out on their entrepreneurial journey, fear not, you are not the only one with more dark days than bright days, and when you feel you are the end of your tether, reach out. There are plenty of supports and networks available, full of practical advice. Even the most grizzled of entrepreneurs learn every day and still have dark days.
In my next blog post I’ll share some of that practical advice with regard to getting your hands-on precious funding. Who doesn’t like free money?