If you’re a young, first-time CEO of a startup, there is no one above you to give you advice. 

 

However, when you are starting out, you might need some tips from someone that has been in your shoes before, and this is me.

 

For this reason, I have gathered below some of the best advice, aka some do’s and don’ts for all of you that dream big and want to become the CEO’s of your own businesses.

 

Let’s start by pointing out that:

 

Entrepreneurship is great but exactly like professional Sports, is not for everyone.

It requires the exact same things an elite Athlete develops through the years in order to excel.

Commitment, sacrifices, extreme passion, improvement, intelligence and consistency.

 

The best way to see if that’s for you, is to try it.

And going after it with the 4 first expectations I described above, will make you enjoy it, learn and I promise you.

No matter the outcome, you won’t lose.

 

 

 

THE DOS

 

 

 

1. Do go for the experience as hard as you can.

 

When you are a CEO, you are the face of your company you are the one who leads the team and is responsible for the decisions that are made.

 

You will have to make big decisions that will affect not just your business but your employees as well.

 

You will have to deal with things like hiring employees, firing employees, making sure the company is profitable and dealing with clients.

 

All of these things will help you build a lot of experience very quickly, so you will know whether or not being a CEO is for you.

 

Even if you discover that this is not the journey for you, you will gain insane experience when dealing with different situations and most importantly, you will not regret not trying in the first place!

 

 

 

 

2. Do go for exploding your learning curve much faster than any job.

 

Becoming a CEO will cause you to learn so much more quickly than you would if you got a job at another company.

 

As CEO, you will be responsible for managing all the other employees in your company and making sure that they are doing their jobs the right way.

 

This will give you a lot of experience in managing people, dealing with clients, overcoming hardships, finding solutions and being flexible and adoptable, which is something that very few people have any experience in at all, let alone as a beginner.

 

 

 

 

3. Do go for the excitement of creating something out of nothing.

 

Starting out your own company can be both very exciting and scary.

 

You get to make big decisions that will affect your company and see them come to life. You get to work closely with other people, make deals with other businesses and see your company grow.

 

If you are currently in a job that you are not happy with and you want to quit, then this is the time for you to make your dream come true. You will get to create a company from scratch, which is something that you cannot really do with any other job.

 

You will get to build a company from the ground up and make it into whatever you want it to be, as long as you put your heart and soul into this.

 

 

4. Do go for the toughening up that this will cause you, like joining the special forces in the military. 

It will definitely challenge your limits like nothing else and that’s what will eventually grow you as a person and as a professional.

 

If you want to prepare yourself to become a CEO and make yourself as strong as you can be, becoming the boss of yourself is the best way to do it. Becoming a young CEO of a first time start up is a very strenuous and stressful job, so you will be challenged in every way possible.

 

You will have to be able to work long hours and forget your 9 to 5 schedule… let alone your holidays. In the beginning it will seem that all you do is work…

 

But this is a good thing.

 

And let me break this to you, there are going to be some hardships, there are going to be days and weeks that you will want to quit, and regret the decision you took to leave your old safe job.

 

But the problem is that you cannot achieve anything WITHOUT those days, without those moments of desperation.

 

I had them too, but I managed to push through and overcome the thunderstorm.

 

Just keep on walking!

 

 

 

THE DON’TS

 

 

 

 

1. Don’ go for the money.

 

Sounds crazy huh? It is not though.

 

And let me explain why your main focus should not be the money when you are starting out.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should not care about how profitable your company will be, but do not get obsessed with it at least in the first steps of your journey.

 

First you need to focus on the hard work, focus on what needs to be done and focus on being consistent.

 

You need to build up your character that will be tested over and over again, and after you conquer those dark days, you will be able to witness the money coming in.

 

Building a strong character will eventually give you the power you need in the first place and will help you become more capable of solving problems and get tougher in general as a person and as a businessman/businesswoman.

 

 

2. Don’t go for becoming bossy and arrogant or because you wanted to post the CEO-Founder title on your LinkedIn.

 

There are many people who become CEOs and start acting like they are better than everyone else because of the title.

Becoming the CEO does not make you better than anybody and it does not mean that you are better than your employees.

It simply means that you are in charge of the company and you are the one who makes the toughest decisions.

 

It also means that you have managed to overcome all the difficulties that were thrown at you when you started.

 

If you become the CEO, you should definitely put the title on your LinkedIn and on your website, but it should only remind you of all the tough work you put in and be proud of it.

 

Be as humble as you can and let your employees know that you are there to help them.

 

You want to create an environment where people are able to work together and succeed together, and being humble, yet tough is the best way to do it.

 

 

 

3. Don’t go for it if you can’t be 100% committed to it.

 

Becoming a first-time startup CEO is a full-time job, so you need to be committed to it 100% of the time.

 

You cannot be a part-time CEO. You need to be prepared to work even if you don’t feel like it.

 

Even if you had a bad night or if you are sick, you will need to make sacrifices and cancel some plans.

 

If you are not able to commit to being a CEO 100% of the time, you should not try and become one.

 

Simple as that.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion