Common life can be quite boring. Can i be out of the paradigm?
I am part of an awesome team of biotechnology students from the Costa Rican Institute of technology (ITCR), which decided to change their routine and start a business. Currently we are accelerating our company in Indie Bio in Ireland. I am not good telling stories, but if you want to know more about how we got here; Rafael Lobo wrote a pretty nice summary of the beginning of our journey in business… and in Ireland!
The awesome and crazy team.
The adventure didn’t start 2 months ago, it started when I was born, but I am not telling you my whole life(I bet you will get bored in the first day of kinder garden), so, let’s just go backwards to the time when I was deciding what to study, not interesting at all, but it explains a lot of things.
What a hard time! Too many things happening, one of them: DECIDE YOUR UNIVERSITY CAREER. Well I just knew that I didn’t want to be “normal”, I didn’t want to study something to be one employee more. I was not pretty sure about what I wanted, but I was sure that I wanted to succeed, be someone, be awesome… be a superhero!
Well… maybe not that kind of superhero. I decided to study science, I wanted to discover new stuff and maybe be part of history. With that in my mind, I decided to study Biotechnology engineering, WHAT A GOOD CHOICE! Since the first day, I realized that it was the perfect career for me. As I was surrounded of pretty smart, creative and also crazy people.
I was learning a lot of things, but I was feeling empty, I still didn’t feel like “helping the world”, my lab work was just staying there, I saw no impact in the real world.
I still didn’t feel like “helping the world”, my lab work was just “staying there”, I saw no impact in the real world.
And here is were I got into the business, innovation and startups world for the first time (Probably I’ll be writing about how I fall into the “business world”).
It was just awesome how my mind changed, I started thinking BIGGER, looking for opportunities, well… I was looking for problems, and trying to figure out how Biotechnology was able to solve them. I found the place where I am able to generate real change and impact, here I found an alternative to avoid becoming another employee in a big company, well, that’s the vision that I have right now. It is taking so much work, but it is really worthy to achieve what I want.
Now, even if I am just starting to learn from this experience, I can give you some advice:
When you see an event, scholarship, or what ever you are interested in, Go for it! Many times we just drop off the idea of going somewhere or applying for something just because we think we will never be accepted, we have no money, or even that we have no time for that. Well, STOP DOING THAT! Because every time you don’t try something, you skip a new opportunity. So, start sending mails, asking people, applying for stuff, and you will get it, If you don’t get it, the bigger lose is a couple of paper sheets and mails.
You don’t need to be an expert, you will get your expertise in the way. Nothing else to say, people spend ages until they feel ready to do something; for me, I like to learn many things; and when an opportunity shows up I would take it. If I don’t know much about the topic, I would learn in the way, That’s it. Do you think we know much about business to be here accelerating our company? Well... Let me tell you that we are learning in our way! This is secret, don’t tell anyone.
Make a change. Are you satisfied with your immediate and global reality? If you are, stop reading this, send me a mail and tell me where you live, because I want to live there!. If not, start making a list of the things you don’t like, and then, you will start looking for the way to change it. My team has that goal, we really want to change a lot of things in our country, Costa Rica, we know we can make a huge impact, and so, We will do it.
Have fun. Life doesn’t have to be so serious, just try to see the good part of everything and everyone. Keep dreaming like a kid, enjoy the little things, enjoy the people around you, and ENJOY every little milestone you achieve!
You don’t need the innovation of the millennium. Just start with something, the faster you start, the faster you will fail. As you fail, you learn which mistakes can be avoided for your next business.
Network. I am not good doing this, but every single person in the world have something to share, maybe you meet someone who has anything to do with the area you are working on, but you don’t know if that person knows your required contact. People have friends, and their friends have friends too, so you must reach everyone, learn something from them and practice point #7.
Pay forward. We should have done a list of all the people who have helped us in this journey. There is many people willing to help you without asking anything. Don’t be shy, ask for the help you need, and when you are able to help someone, help them. Don´t even think about it twice. Just give your help away.
I haven’t found a reason why I put this here, but well, Eat chocolate!, it is always a good idea to be happier! :)
Build a team. At the beginning it might seem useless to have an multidisciplinary team, But as you grow, you will really need people from different areas, I bet you don’t want to be doing your financial statistics during the incubation time of your experiment. Also this can be one of the hardest parts, because you need to find people who share your vision, so when you find someone who matches your vision, Catch, tie and put them in your closet to avoid losing them. Well… maybe it is a better idea to ask for their mail or whatsapp.
Ask what you don’t know. You will not make someone mad for asking for an advise. I love listening people, and also talking to them (sometimes people say I talk too much, they are lying).
Don’t lose your mind trying to do EVERYTHING!, build a team, ask for advise, network and make it matter!
Now I think that the “safe path” is so boring! Many people may say: You are just a kid, you don’t know what you are saying, but well, this is my point of view, and I still have a lot of things to learn.
Before saying good bye, thank you for your time, and don’t be scare to leave the safe path behind and start an adventure into business or any project you have, I bet you will learn much and your world will change.
