How to go from freewheeling to building an actual business.

I have been entrepreneur-ing for as long as I can remember.
Always working for myself.
Always working on a business.

But the last couple of weeks I realized something. A thought that is fundamentally changing the way I approach being an entrepreneur. And now that I’m implementing this new way of working, I see a lot of others could benefit from it as well.

Nowadays, a lot of people call themselves an entrepreneur.
Nowadays, a lot of people say they are building a business.

But… In all fairness, are they?

…

So.. I wrote a story here on Medium that’s doing very well compared to my other stories. But I don’t feel good about it…

I want to share with you my experience and what my take-away is from it all.

How it began

A week or two ago I decided to start writing an article a day. I started because I discovered I’m going to be a father soon. And I love the idea of creating something for my child(ren) to read if something were to happen to me.

I have written 9 articles as of now. And I LOVE doing it. It…

I decided to write an article a day, for a hundred days. Today is article #009. And I feel like it’s time for an update on how things are going.

Let me start by telling you about today

Remko (my mentor & business partner) asked me why I’m publishing my stories for the whole world to see…

It got me wondering about why I’m writing these articles in the first place. What am I trying to accomplish here? Who am I trying to please or impress?

I started this challenge in order to achieve two things:

1. To work on myself — by better reflecting on my own thoughts…

Have you ever tried to solve a problem only to realize that the problem gets bigger the more you think about it?

I bet you have. And so have I… Way too often.

Why do we overthink?

I read a beautiful quote today that answers this question perfectly.

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.” — Albert Camus.

Let’s change that quote a bit to fit our topic.

“You will never be satisfied with a solution to a problem, if you continue to search for what satisfaction, in the context of your problem, consists of.”

Overthinking…

It’s day 7.

I am busy writing down a thought, idea or lesson a day. For a hundred days.

For the first time in a week, I don’t have a lot of inspiration or motivation to write. I feel the urge to push trough on my challenge, but at the same time I would love to just write nothing today.

I hate the feeling of failing. I have felt that feeling more than once today.

But you know what? Failing can only happen in the eyes of another person, or an ideal you have created for yourself. Failing is relative…

Platforms like Pinterest, Dribbble, and Behance have exploded with inspiring design content for ui-designers. And while a lot of it looks amazing, I feel like a lot of trendy designs are misleading both you, and the designers who made them.

This article is not meant to hate on beautiful work by talented people, but to expand your arsenal of design skills by shedding some light on a topic I do not hear a lot of real talk about.

Let me explain.

UI-Design vs Real-world use

A lot of my work revolves around designing user interfaces.

With over 10 years of design (and development) experience…

A few seconds later, I realized why his words grabbed my attention. They pointed me to my biggest flaw as an entrepreneur, and as a human being.

It made me realize, more than ever: I am not in control of my life.

So, what did my business partner say?

“Some of us are busy responding to signals, while some of us are in control.”

Why did that inspire me? At first I wasn’t sure… Perhaps because he presented both of those cases as exact polar-opposites (which I thought was very interesting). Or perhaps just because he reminded me of one of my all-time greatest weaknesses.

Nevertheless, I…

So, I have this friend. Let’s call him ‘Danny’ for now. Danny has a very interesting super power. Danny is a master of ‘staying honest and true to himself’.

And believe me, you’d understand how unique of a skill that is if you were to ever meet him in person. But since the odds of you meeting Danny are very very small, let me tell you about him, and his superpower.

During Danny’s childhood, most of the people around him did not believe in him. Danny didn’t really seem to care about that though…

During Danny’s first ‘real’ job, most…