I started blogging because I had (and still have) this problem of expressing how I feel. So by blogging my thoughts and sharing it, it’s much easier for me to do so face-to-face because I would assume that the people involved already know what I was going to say.
When I got into starting up, I wanted this blog to be an avenue where people can learn from my experiences in real-time and not just having one article that cramps all my experiences when Learnemy go big or go home. And I do feel happy when people asked me about my experiences in getting the YES! grant or the Founder Institute. It seems like before the start of every FI semester, I get a couple of people asking me about it.
I’m glad to be of help.
But I realized that this is not feasible for me to share my startup experiences the way I intended for a couple of reasons:
It may sound a little paranoid on my part but I don’t see why I shouldn’t err on the side of paranoia because ultimately, this is business. Plus, I don’t want to work with a partner or invest in a founder who can’t keeps her mouth shut (or fingers tied, in this case). I wouldn’t mind to share my experiences privately, just not an open platform like this.
So I’m compiling these posts into an ebook. Probably will sell it or give it away when Learnemy shuts it’s doors or get really ahead of the game.
Elisha Tan is the founder of Learnemy, an online marketplace that connects you with instructors for anything you want to learn. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter
Launching has been an immensely humbling experience.
It’s stressful. It’s uncomfortable. But unexpectedly, the greatest toil launching has is not on my relationships, physical or mental health but on my faith.
It is easy to start thinking that God is unfair, blessing this startup with funding and that startup with programmers. It’s easy, therefore, to slip into the destructive mindset of “I must be doing something wrong” and spiral out to have a faith based on an exchange relationship.
I do that for you, so you do that for me.
Or worse, becoming obsessed with rules and regulation of the religion much like a pharisee.
But my faith is not like that.
Elisha Tan is the founder of Learnemy, an online marketplace that connects you with instructors for anything you want to learn. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter
Last Thursday, Adeo spoke about going to people higher up in the hierarchy as a way to by-pass gatekeepers. This topic was raised by a fellow FI grad, whose startup deals with providing a solution to local schools and he faced problems getting to decision makers.
“You should go up to the minister of education,” I told him after the session.
“Yea, I’m totally going to ask him for a meeting and expect him to grant it to me,” he replied.
At first, I was offended. Does he think I’m stupid to suggest something that’s impossible?
My second thought was, “Oh well, this guy doesn’t know his market well enough to know that there’s this thing called Meet the People session.”
Then I thought, bloody hell, going up to someone to ask for a meeting totally can be done.
How hard is it to google up an email address, send an email, or even park yourself outside the target’s office and wait for that precious few seconds of crossing path, if that target is really important?
I’m not an out-going person. I hate networking.
(Speaking of networking, I don’t just go up and talk to people I meet on the train or in the mall. But the concept of ‘networking’ requires me to do just that, so I hate it. Much rather to meet new people via my current friends, like how it’s done naturally. Ugh, hate networking.)
But more than networking, I’ll hate myself if I can’t speak to someone I need to just because I find it unnatural.
And I think you should do so too.
Elisha Tan is the founder of Learnemy, an online marketplace that connects you with instructors for anything you want to learn. Follow us on Facebook or TwitterWhen I ask for the age of a person who has achieved a lot, I do a mental calculation and tell myself I have X more years to go, I can do it too.
I found out that I shouldn’t ask the age when that person started his/her journey. Because I was shoplifting and skipping classes when I was at that age. But hey, at least I didn’t discover ebay then. Else I’ld have totally steal to sell.
Learning how to learn a skill is more important than learning the skill itself. I can finish M.Hartl’s book on rails, but I need to learn how to google for errors or find my way around stackoverflow in order for my education to be independent of M.Hartl’s book.
But learning how to learn something from someone who has that kind of knowledge is hard. Most of their knowledge on the skill has become implicit, and they credit their skill to ‘experience’ or ‘gut feel’. A child who just learned how to cycle can explain how to cycle in more detail than an adult who’s been cycling his whole life.
That’s why I write. I want to remember how I learned to learn.
Master class with Adeo is amazing. I need to push myself more. Why can’t I keep to my goals? Probably because nobody keeps me accountable. Oh well, I’ll code an app for that. Give me one week, I’ll learn everything.
Elisha Tan is the founder of Learnemy, an online marketplace that connects you with instructors for anything you want to learn. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter
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