Pay it Forward

  

Fear of being Alone

One of the hardest aspects in the early phases of starting something new is the emotional rollercoaster of being alone. You are alone to deal with the prospect of failure. You are alone and dependant only on yourself to make progress in starting your venture. There is no kinetic energy or momentum helping you to identify the right business venture or to start turning it into a reality. If you take a day off or are sick nothing happens and you are nowhere closer towards reaching your dream of creating something new. In fact I would say that the fear of being alone is a primary reason people are not quitting their jobs right now and becoming self employed since the advantages are so appealing.

For me there is (at least) one more problem related to being alone. My best ideas and passion come from interacting with other individuals and engaging them in a dialog.

First Who, then What

My ability to start a new venture is first based on finding and building an ecosystem of smart, creative, determined, and fun people that will either partner with me or support me through the journey. With the right team of individuals my chances to successfully find, refine, and execute on my next venture dramatically increase.

Pay it Forward

As I tell this story to others I find that they completely empathize with my situation and have a strong desire to assist me in finding the right individuals that will help me through my journey. As I share both my fears and motivations with the people I meet they embrace the role of a supporter and advocate for my success. In most cases, people ask me how they can help.

My request is that they introduce me to two people that they highly respect, know well, and feel can also benefit from meeting with me. I call this “Pay It Forward” (if you have not seen the movie then go rent the DVD). In many cases there is nothing immediate that I can give the introducer but hope that their favor will be returned in the future by me or by someone else who adopts this approach. So far everyone I meet has been “paying it forward” on my behalf. The few contacts I have in Israel (most of my network is abroad due to the geography of my career history) are already multiplying and leading to many more introductions. In fact, through this approach I have already found a few partners in crime.