It is important to have a support system as an entrepreneur

As every Monday Mattias answers personal questions about him as an entrepreneur:

1. Do you find it easy to relax once you're done with work?

Mattias explains that if you have a creative brain it is basically impossible to simply shut it off when your workday is over. However, when you're a leader or an entrepreneur it is very important to find the right balance since you have other priorities when you come home. In most cases, there is probably another person waiting there for you and you want to give them the attention they deserve. He admits though that he should probably work on better boundaries to separate his work from his personal life. However, his girlfriend has never complained about him thinking about work too much and Mattias adds that she is definitely his best supporter especially after a stressful day. A good support system, in general, is very important when you decide to go after what you really want.

2. Do you have any plans for your retirement?

The first thing Mattias thinks about is catching surf waves in the mornings and playing golf during the afternoons - and maybe a remote board meeting somewhere in between. As of right now, he cannot imagine completely retiring one day. He rather has an 80/20 deal in mind, where 80% of his time he would enjoy life and focus on his hobbies and 20% he would still be working. He explains that there are different stages to the entrepreneurial journey. At the beginning of iGoMoon and the other startups he was trying to establish, he did not have any financial help and worked hard every day on the front line to make this dream possible. He is still planning on starting new companies but he wouldn't see himself working as the operative force everyday. He would rather be in the background, helping these companies grow.

3. Is there a skill you would like to learn?

Other than improving his golf swing which was one of his priorities during this vacation, Mattias would really like to work on his communication and English skills. Svea also thinks about the question and comes to the conclusion that for her it does not really matter what kind of skill she is learning, for her it's more about learning new things in general and staying curious. Mattias agrees with her that having a curious mindset is great to discover new things.

If you put in a lot of time and effort building a company or pursuing your dream you always come to a point where something that has been very fun turns into a huge responsibility with a lot of challenges and pressure. If you come to that point it is so important to find something else that can give you the energy and joy that you need to get new perspectives on what you're doing.

4. When you're doubting yourself, who or what makes you start to believe in yourself again?

Usually, when he is doubting himself he is simply stressed out by something. Especially in these situations, it is very important to have people around him that he trusts and can talk to.
Mattias also looks at the topic of self-doubt from another angle and explains that our upbringing and the people we are surrounded by, highly impact the perception of ourselves and oftentimes determine how successful we can be.

If you are brought up in an environment where people don't believe in you, you will most likely develop low self-esteem and might never have the courage to go after your dream, no matter how brilliant your ideas might have been in the first place.

💡 EPISODE TAKE AWAY
Sometimes someone else needs to believe in us before we can believe in ourselves again.

Do you have a support system?