Ayman Itani

Maximizing the benefit of attending workshops and seminars starts BEFORE attending. There are many times when I get enthusiastic about a topic, I pay for the workshop or seminar, and then attend part of it and lose interest. I find that when I prepare the following BEFORE the seminar/workshop, it is a better use of my time: - a list of topics and questions I am looking for answers on - a statement of "after this seminar/workshop, I want to be able to do..."

Your boss will unlikely support your entrepreneurial aspirations. Your number one priority is to make sure your performance at your day job is not affected as that is your primary source of income. Your evenings and weekends are your friend. This means time away from family, friends, Netflix, and other forms of leisure time. Once your side business progresses to an extent where you have hope that it can reach a stage that is viable, that is when you need to look at your personal expenses and savings to see what it means to resign from your main source of income.

If you are interning in the entrepreneurship sector and you want to maximize your benefit, work as close as possible with the founder. The founder tends to be very busy and is open to any support that gets items off of their to-do list. This is your opportunity to learn, get feedback, act quickly, and gain experience.

If you are an entrepreneur navigating financial uncertainty in your business, know that it takes a good seven to ten years to find a strong footing for your business where you figure out product-market fit, what profiles to hire that would do well in your business, how to clearly explain what you do, what costs are reasonable, etc. During this process, financial uncertainty in your business and personal life is inevitable. You don't have much choice other than trying to hold your breath as much as possible by reducing spend, delaying launching new products or services you are excited about, get external financial support (a working spouse, a supporting family, etc.)

There is a better approach than getting an internship in entrepreneurship. If you are a young professional and want to know more about entrepreneurship, get an internship/job/project in an early-stage startup reporting directly to the founder: - You will have a first-row seat to the ups and downs of entrepreneurship - You get to work on a wide variety of different tasks, thus growing your experience Be ready for long hours though.

Delegation is a skill that we all need to continue to improve on. It is the type of skill that requires continuous work to improve, especially since our job requirements continue to change. There are many tactics and techniques, so there isn't one correct way. Trial and error have helped me improve my delegation skills, but it does take a mindful effort to work on delegation over and above the day-to-day workload.