Starting up is not easy, especially when you are in India where most families and societies still discourage youngsters to pursue dreams. Most of our parents sulk at the idea of their children leaving a well paying job to establish something unreliable, nascent and in their words ‘impractical’. In such a scenario, succeeding in your new business venture becomes all the more striving – its a do or die situation, because not many people support you, and then you don’t want to go back to the boring job. While this is good for the business (you work harder because success is the only option you have), not all budding entrepreneurs are lucky enough to taste success early. Businesses take time to mature. 
Now, succeeding in your venture is directly proportional to how long you are able to stick around the idea. Morpheus founder Sameer once pointed out in a discussion, “if you are extremely lucky, you will find success in business within 5 years. if you are moderately lucky, the period will be 10 years. if you are extremely unlucky, it will be 15 years.” I believe in this and i think if you really believe in your idea, its all a matter of hanging in there and keep doing your bit before you find an audience. .
But again, not all of us can do that (hang in there with ease and work). Many stress out, fuse out and lose temper. The first 2 years are particularly tough and if you don’t start making profits soon and are running out of savings, it can be a hard time, especially if you are working alone. The important thing to do at these times is to keep your calm and be patient. No business is more important than your life. If you lose sanity while working on your idea, then well, what is the point!
Now I am not an authority on beating stress, but I have been through this phase and so I present some things which you can do to really keep yourself sane during this hard period
1. Keep working and don’t get distracted by the success stories of people around. Rather, be motivated and learn from them.
2. Note down the things that you need to do. Keep thinking of new ideas, additions, patches to your products. Think of ways to market and sell your product/service. All this will keep you busy and motivated to do more. Keep doing something everyday.
3. Don’t overwork. Remember the reason why you started out on your own (freedom, money, etc.). Keep a clear routine and let it give you enough time to sleep, watch TV, go for walks (essential), movies, pubs, etc.
4. Don’t obsess over numbers, hit counts, page ranks (which are not relevant these days anyways), and other stats. Given enough time, all these parameters will improve. Most of the times, these numbers do not have any bearing on how your business is performing.
5. Don’t listen to everyone’s advice (see difference between hearing and listening). Trust your instinct; if it has helped you so far, it will help you later on as well.
6. Indulge in competitive sports at least once a week. It will keep you healthy, and keep the fire of winning alive.
7. Talk to friends, share your ideas. (Many of the best selling add-ons on our website were suggested by my friends who had no clue of the business I was running!)
8. Start reading stuff. Do it occasionally if you are too busy with work. But do it. It will bring a lot of enrichment to the mind and your brain will work better. Trust me, it will happen.
9. Travel. Travelling opens up one’s mind in ways you cannot imagine. The rush of fresh air does something to the brain I guess! Then, it gives you a break from the monotony, the competition, the stress and the numbers. Try to travel to near by hills or places where you can spend a day or two in peace and in the company of only friends or family. It will hurt some finances but if you can do it, it’ll be worth it.
10. And last, watch some sitcoms. They are a great way to bust stress! My favorites are 2 and a half men, how i met your mother, south park 🙂
More suggestions welcome.
P.S. On a lighter note, a little bit of alcohol too never hurts and makes the world a much better place atleast for a few hours 😉
Mandeep Kaur
Meditating everyday, thinking positively
How do you spend when you are not making money is a tricky thing, don’t you think?
Kamaljit Singh
Hi Rajat,
I am glad you included the last point… not the 10th Point but the one with P.S:…..
😉
Snehal Nimje
Thanks buddy.
Nishchal Par
It’s encouraging to know that everyone goes through the sh#t that you feel only you are in. I liked your first point. I think I’ll go for a short walk now 🙂
himanshu agarwal
my take on the 5/10/15 years thing>
take the algebra>>LHS(vision)=RHS(reality)>
if LHS(vision) is 5yrs and that is being stretched to 15yrs this seriously needs
to be reviewed and corrective action should be taken>>>
Rajat
Actually the thinking positively part does not come so easily – its easier said than done. That is why it is important to create circumstances that reduce the negative thinking part – keeping yourself busy, interacting with friends help. Its also important to star neutral so that you can focus ahead.
and yes, spending money is a tricky thing when you don’t have much. That’s why i said, ‘if you can’ spend a little, do travel. 🙂
Rajat
😀
it is important to let yourself loose every once in a while..life is too short to be taken too seriously isn’t it 🙂
Rajat
Thanks Nishchal. Everyone goes through the bad phase. The only difference is for how long. Some are lucky enough to taste early success, some are impatient or prudent enough to quit. Others are determined enough to hang on.
Rajat
Yes. Some entrepreneurs are practical enough and have a good foresight – they quit at the right time because the goals and the timelines for those goals do not match. Others in this category change things – bring in more resources, alter plans, models and so on.
There are others who do not (cannot) think so far. (We have all kinds of entrepreneurs, right?). Then some of these types do not have a solid exit plan (most are not sure what they will do if they exit). So they decide to hang on. The 15 year rule is for them. The trick is to not lose hope and just stay there, wait for your time – it will eventually come.
Sridhar V
I feel in today’s times there are several options for starting up which includes not only starting your own small shop or business, but also includes things like website, blog, fan page, retail outlets, clinics, consultancies, etc. There are several options for professionals, self-employed people, etc to explore projects on a freelance or consulting mode. Earlier these things were not possible unless you were a famous person, but today its workable. Technology has also put a lot of knowledge and resources with the reach of common people. So compared to the past few decades, the opportunities are more, but there are challenges too.
Kanchan Yadav
To sum it up, do anything & everything that makes you happy other than shopping. After all you’ve to remember you don’t have enough 🙂 As it’s rightly said ‘The best things in life are free’.
Adding to no. 8, read about people who’ve faced similar situations; about entrepreneurs, activists, change makers. It’s then that you realize that you are not the only one who’s going through hell & this knowledge is very comforting; if they can, so can you.
Sandeep Gupta
Cycling a couple of hours at least once a week is a great stress buster!