4 Key Lessons learned from the trench on how to start a successful business

Success is built upon courage to take risks, believing in yourself and always ready for surprises.

Photo by Chris Prakoso

In this debut episode of Life Apprentice podcast I talked to one friend of mine, Ferry Haris.

Ferry is an IT Risk Management consultant who founded his own consulting firm just 2 years ago. It was a bold move from him considering that he started the business as a foreigner in a foreign land. But today his gamble has paid off and now his business is thriving with prominent clients under his company’s account.

I asked Ferry to share his journey, and what lessons he had learnt so far to get to this point in his life.

Feel free to listen to the entire podcast below, otherwise read on for the point summaries.

Life Apprentice Podcast Episode #1

Hustle mentality doesn’t always take you where you want to go

Ferry came from the same traditional background as I did. When we were young, the conventional wisdom said that if you work hard and long enough you will slowly progress in your career and make it to the top.

This way of ‘hustling’, I know, was in the past the only way to move forward in your job. But it certainly has not been the ‘only’ way for the past few decades.

For Ferry, this was not even a possibility as his boss rejected his request for promotion, just because he was not a Dutch person!

That’s when Ferry thought that he had to take a drastic change in his life.

I know that the majority of people in the world are still doing this same thing (including me by the way).

We chained ourselves to our desk from 9 to 5 every day 7 days a week in return for a measly salary that is barely enough to pay for the bill every month.

I get it, oftentimes we don’t have much choice, we have our family to feed, and mortgage to pay.

But take courage and know that there is another way to get to that ‘financial freedom’. I don’t want to say to be rich, because being rich more often than not doesn’t equate to freedom.

Ferry took the jump, and he’s not so far from that goal. At least now he gets to spend more time with his family, that’s to me is priceless.

Having skill and expertise are important but being confident with what you can do is a must

Born in Indonesia, Ferry obviously has a different physical appearance compared to his European surroundings. This gave him some inferior complex in the past as people often judged him and questioned his competence in doing his job.

He pragmatically realized that the only way to overcome this was to confidently show that the perception was just simply a prejudice. That if he were given the opportunity, he would be able to prove that he could do what was required of him to do, and even did it very well.

Many times we are afraid of what people might think about us. As a result we often lose confidence in who we are and what we really can do.

This perception of being inferior is like a shackle that binds us and holds us back. We need to believe in ourselves that we are capable of doing what needs to be done. And just go for it.

Even if in reality we do have some shortcomings, there is no better way to prove this other than to try. People will gladly give you feedback, which you can then consider as a positive input for you to get better next time. Let this be the fuel that propels you onward.

Brave does not mean reckless

Having a business is about taking risks. As a matter of fact, every decision we make in life is full of risks associated with it.

But let’s not let this stop us from taking that decision or start a new venture.

However, as any commander would say on the eve of a battle, it would be unwise and even disastrous to face the enemy without understanding their nature as well as the battlefield.

Ferry has taken this strategy pretty much in every decision of his life, small or big. He always did his research before going somewhere or doing anything new.

Certainly, his decision to quit his day job and to start his own company was not taken lightly or without first considering all aspects. 

The danger here is that many times we want to be sure 100% before we make the step. This is also bad because it will bring procrastination, which in the end will stop you to do anything.

Ferry said he needs at least 70% of confidence to move on with the plan. I’d say it’s good enough for me.

It’s a risk, but a calculated one.

Make the journey - together

In his second year of starting his own business, Ferry had one revelation, that he couldn’t do it by himself, not if he wanted to grow the business.

I know that many of us, myself included, have started or about to start something on our own.

This is very common in the startup world. Heck, many of the big brands that we know today were originally started by one person in some ‘garage’ or something.

There is a vision there, that if that guy could do it I can do it too. It’s a great vision, and it’s absolutely doable today, even easier than when Steve Jobs founded Apple.

But if we want to scale our business, we can’t do it alone, we need other people's help.

Startup founders are often given advice - to be successful they have to surround themselves with clever people. 

Ferry realized that there was much value in having a team (than to do it alone), because there was a big chance that his team members knew something that he didn’t.

This wealth of knowledge is invaluable to the success of a business.

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I want to thank Ferry for agreeing to be my first guest and his willingness to share his experience with us. It was fun and informative.

I hope that you all get as much as I did.

If you or your company needs help from a bonafide IT Security/Risk Management Consultancy firm, feel free to get in contact with Ferry here.

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