
Ask HN: How do you stop the “employee mindset” when pursuing entrepreneurship? - BeanoBox
I seem to get some comfort from having an authority figure to work with and offload some of the responsibilities to that I would have as an entrepreneur. Also the authority figure can be a source of pride when they acknowledge my work.<p>I find that if I am unemployed it is really bad for my self esteem.<p>How do you get out of the employee mindset and let go of the needs fulfilled by being an employee?
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davismwfl
I get it. As an entrepreneur you get validation from customers, and you hold
yourself accountable to them. The customer is the "authority".

To be honest this is one, of many, reasons I prefer to find and talk to
customers before I even start to build a product. Having people you can talk
to and run ideas past and get feedback from makes you focus on not
disappointing them and giving you some feeling of needing to be accountable.

That all said, being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely and it is easy to get
depressed, so you have to find ways to find balance for yourself and prevent
it. I am actually reversed from you in that I find it actually easier being a
founder than an employee, but in both cases you just need to find coping
mechanisms that work for you.

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codegeek
"having an authority figure to work with and offload some of the
responsibilities to "

I wouldn't call this an employee mindset necessarily. For me, employee mindset
is:

\- Need a specific set of duties defined for you and you are expected to
deliver.

\- You are not willing to take risks. You like/need that "delusion" of a
secure job/paycheck. I put delusion in quotes because as an entrepreneur, I
actually think it is more risky being in a job than doing your own thing. But
this is not for everyone.

\- You like "structure". The job of an employee is to follow
structure/processes while one of things that an entrepreneur does is to set
those processes/structure in place.

\- You don't really care how the business makes money. You just want to get
your job done and GTFO. That is employee mentality. Nothing wrong with it but
not entrepreneurial.

\- You only look at the short term and lower level stuff. That is employee
mentality. If you truly want to be an entrepreneur, look at the bigger picture
while work on the shorter term targets. For example, if you cannot visualize
where you want to be in 12 months, being an entrepreneur will be tough.

\- You don't know exactly why YOU want to be an entrepreneur. I call it the
"Everyone around me is doing it so why not me" wantra-preneur. Once in a
while, every employee at a company thinks about throwing in the towel and
starting their own thing. I mean who wouldn't these days, right ? Being an
entrepreneur is glorified a lot. But the fact is that most people have no clue
WHY they want to do it. It is because they have not defined what it means to
THEM. That is employee mentality.

If you can work on these things and you make a conscious effort to improve
yourself, you surely can stop the employee mindset. All the best.

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streetcat1
So, first, you are not unemployed. You are working.

Second, think of yourself as working for equity (This is why you should guard
your equity from dilution as much as possible, it is real money). I.e. a
regular employees usually work for 100% salary and 0 % equity. As a founder
you switched this formula, you work for 0 salary and 100% equity.

Third, at least until you have customers, you might want to "hack" your brain
(which wants you to be an employee) and join a co-working space with regular
employees. This might bring more "regular job" feeling.

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siriniok
It's ok to feel like that, totally. And it's not easy to become your own boss,
you have to learn how to manage yourself and that will take time. You also
need to change your expectations for rewards: you are no longer working for
salary, you are working for profit now, which means that you have a different
feedback loop now. As soon as you get used to this new feedback loop, you will
be more comfortable with you new role.

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matt_the_bass
One, perhaps unpopular, opinion is there is nothing wrong about staying and
employee and not trying to build your own company.

Ask yourself why you want to pursue entrepreneurship. Perhaps you can meet
those desires while still wearing an employee hat (ie a side project FOR FUN,
or lead a new product development project under the umbrella of your
employer).

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cvaidya1986
Find your target total money you need to make and then work on making it,
hopefully doing something you love. If you do it through employment or startup
does it really matter?

