Startup life vs. consulting

I want to live in a world where freedom of choice is uninhibited and people have equal opportunities to realize their dreams.

How do I make sure that I advance towards my promise and the above-mentioned vision? I believe there are three options: Consulting, a startup or joining a startup. There are benefits and drawbacks to all options. First, I thought a lot about consulting. In this field, I will be able to work on different projects and for different companies. There are clear work procedures and structured, and I will be among talented colleagues. When I look into the startup world, I know I will have more responsibility, and I will be able to have an octopus role (widespread area of different tasks).

Several of my friends who were consultants left their job to build their own businesses. I guess it is not a surprising move, as consultants, as well as entrepreneurs, share same similar traits:

  • Leadership: Consultants manage different teams to achieve a common goal. Entrepreneurs must lead and motivate others in order to deliver a certain vision.
  • Interpersonal and communication: All my friends who are consultants are excellent communicators. If one wants to be a successful entrepreneur, it is vital to be competent in all types of communication in order to sell one’s vision to others.
  • Negotiation: People with consulting experience generally have strong negotiation skills as they deal with different clients with different goals, requirements, and personalities. An entrepreneur must be good at negotiating with all types of people and stakeholders in order to run the business.
  • Optimism and persistence: Consultants are generally known to be go-getters and high-achievers, and they are very persistent in their behavior. I see the same trait in my entrepreneurial friends. The eternal persistence and optimism, both during good and bad times.

Enough Sunday reflections for now… Happy Easter everyone!

MIT Bootcamp x Trashnology

What a week! It is amazing how many things you can get done once you gather six brilliant minds and work 20 hours a day. It is definitely not a sustainable way to work that many hours a day, but it definitely works out for a shorter period.

Let’s take it from the top with some facts about the MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp: 6000+ applications, 123 persons admitted, 5 days, 12 hours of sleep (in total), 6 people in one team, 100 solutions (to one problem). 5 pivots, 1 final presentation!

What is my key take away from this week? It is all about the team! We were a team of six, and we worked on a concept similar to my project Trashnology.

What if we could incentivize people from developing countries to pick up their trash, and give them money in return for the trash collected? Not only will we clean up the earth, we will also give everyone an opportunity to earn their own money!

The idea is still just a concept, but I do truly believe there is a market for it. We did plenty of research on the topic, and we even had an expert in waste management on our team! The next step is to find the right market to launch the product in. We found out that Sierra Leone (targeted marketed) has a great potential in terms of impact, but might be difficult to implement the idea. Next step is to find a feasible market for Trashnology and co-founders! Hit me up if you are keen on working with Trash.

#FromTrashToCash #Trashnology #trashtag