Post by Tine Makumbirofa

It's been 2 weeks as a founder and I have absolutely no new news.  Just kidding. The news is - this is hard. “Winging it" is the job description. I came from banking so there were processes, frameworks - a very clear escalation path when things went wrong. Now I am the process, the framework AND the escalation path. (Also highly likely the person who caused the problem) Anyway, I’ve been documenting this rollercoaster journey of building Inner Architect (Inarchie) on Instagram, and am surprised by the engagement. My audience is mostly my peers - people who watched me leave a very lucrative banking career to give this a go - so naturally they are 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 in how this plays out. The wins, the fumbles, all of it. Throwing some of that here too, in case it's useful to anyone outside my immediate circle of concerned friends. (To my former corporate seniors - thank you for supporting my instagram, yes I saw your follow request, yes you cannot see my instagram page anymore for some reason, no I don’t know what happened!) Some of the diary entries from this last week: - Showed up to an event in person to speak to an interested organisation and left with two meeting requests and an almost-confirmed workshop. Talking to humans and showing your face is truly the secret sauce! - Announced to nobody in particular that I would post “Three times a week! On every platform!” Quickly dwindled when someone unexpected showed up in my views and sent me into a spiral, a post got low engagement, or I overthought an idea into oblivion. Consistency is a work in progress. As always. - Some prospects I had written off as ghosting me? Weren't actually ghosting me! They were just really busy with exams. Felt like a sign that I need to follow up with every single "no response" I've been avoiding. - My website made sense in my head a month ago. Every conversation I have with a real person reveals a new thing that needs to change. I'm not sure it's a website anymore. I think it's a living document of how much I didn't know when I started. - Spent three hours filming a three-minute video for our business page. An improvement because just last month it was a full day. I'm choosing to call this a win. - The freelance clients who kept me financially afloat are now asking for more of my time, right when I'm trying to focus more on Inarchie. There is no clean answer to this one. Just the push and pull of needing money to exist while also trying to build something. Anyways we live and we learn! The Founder Diaries has more entries but don’t want you reading novels on LinkedIn! But I am curious if these insights are of interest to you. And if you are a founder and have faced any of my current challenges, any advice to share? Curious to know below!