Every day is a reminder: failure doesn’t exist 💪
When we make a deliberate choice to found a business, we’re instantly exposed to all the things we “should” be doing.
From pitching ideas to securing investors to marketing to iterating and all the pivots in between, it can get overwhelming really fast.
But when we take a step back, we’ll likely realize that some of the skills we’ve relied on in our past roles will actually help us in this new journey as well.
And when it comes down to it, we don’t need to be experts in ‘all things entrepreneur,’ all at once.
After all, if we waited for things to be perfect, none of us would ever get started.
For Sajida Roberson, founder of Essonify, this learn-as-you-go approach has kept entrepreneurship exciting and empowering–often reaffirming that she does, in fact, have the knowledge she needed to go on her own.
And for what she doesn’t know yet? She sure won’t let that stop her.
When it’s time to consult the ultimate boss: yourself
“I’m telling these CEOs, ‘You’re doing this wrong,’ or ‘You need to try this,’ and I’m giving them all this good coaching and advice… And I was like, if they can do it–and they’re running a multi-billion dollar company–why can’t I? This advice–I should be turning inward and using it, with myself.”
Working in a traditional corporate role for years, Sajida was used to the grind that came with the territory.
In her role as a consultant, working closely with various executives gave her a firsthand peek into the world that many people never see.
There’s this idea that to be in a C-suite role, you must be super intelligent, successful, experienced–and not that some of these people aren’t–but it’s also not always the case.
As a consultant, Sajida found herself giving crucial advice to the decision makers. Without her, they wouldn’t have the knowledge–or the confidence–to make those decisions.
After time, she found herself exhausted from the constant race that corporate seems to encourage so well. She needed change.
“I was actually still pushing my consulting outward, because that's what I was used to doing. And then, with a little coaching from my husband, he's like, ‘Why don't you just do that to yourself?’ What? Oh, you mean to me? Oh, for my own ideas, not someone else's ideas? That was genius, though.”
Acknowledging the fact that consulting didn’t energize her anymore–and that she had a lot of great ideas brewing–she decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship.
Taking a leap into the unknown
“Failure only happens when you decide to quit learning, so just don't stop learning. That's all! There's no failure. It's just information, and with it, you can think, ‘Okay, we'll go left instead of right.’ Period.”
Meeting up at a coffee shop with a friend-turned-co-founder, Sajida dug into her vault of ideas to identify a problem: Helping people "feel like yourself, more often, with less effort." And she started with style.
From there, they worked in harmony as a team, helping maintain balance and focus as they began to build the business.
Her co-founder took on more of the consultant role within the duo, while Sajida dropped her consultant hat completely and embraced a different approach.
“I want to jump in and see what happens. I'm like, let's just start and try, and start and try, and try and do… And that's what we did. My partner balances me. He'll remind me, ‘You do it this way!’ So there's some discipline involved. But I also think we wouldn't have stumbled upon all that we did had I not taken that trial-and-error approach.”
This fearlessness led Sajida to do whatever it took to get her ideas out into the world.
That meant searching the internet for resources and teaching herself how to code.
It also meant feeling so secure in her ideas that she could go to her developer and suggest they try a different approach that would help the product become much richer.
Would it work? She didn’t know. But when the ethos in your company is to just try it, it didn’t make sense not to!
This passion and excitement makes it hard to stop working, even when it’s time to focus on the personal side of work/life balance.
But instead of pushing family aside to keep the ball rolling on the business, Sajida uses her passion as an opportunity to invite conversation and involvement–even from her 12-year-old son.
“We get to tell him, ‘If you really are passionate about what you do, it doesn't feel like work.’ I’ll have another idea and share it to the point that even my son comes up with some too. So we get to talk contextually about this as we go. So, while, yes, we talk about it all the time, it doesn’t feel like work talk.”
Even with this seamless flow of bringing work life into the home, Sajida is still intentional about setting boundaries.
Sundays are strictly free of business talk, to allow for other topics to be discussed and shared.
Some challenges require serious self-awareness
“What grounded me was this idea that’s been reflected back to me: You can either find a traditional job and put all your efforts into that or put all your efforts into this. But it's the same effort in life.”
There seems to be a common sentiment among founders: the struggles are worth it when it means they can create something of their own.
And as far as the struggles go, securing investors is one of the biggest hurdles to get over when it comes to starting a business.
To get her idea rolling, Sajida knew money would be limited. But besides securing funding, she fortunately had a supportive partner who was willing to do whatever it took, right alongside her.
If that meant changing their lifestyle, spending less, or even selling the house, they would find the money they needed for her to keep pushing forward.
Through her years in corporate, she shed the Impostor Syndrome one might feel when taking such big steps into the unknown.
But stress–through overworked days, hustling, and lingering financial uncertainty–decided to show up in another way: a persistent eye twitch.
“I had to evaluate, where I was like, ‘What is going on? Let's start addressing these things so this doesn't come up.’ So now that's my barometer. When I start twitching, I'm like, take a step back, breathe, pause, and re-prioritize.”
For someone who is filled with the excitement at the thought of working on her business, taking that pause isn’t always easy to do.
But the body doesn’t lie. And when we listen to it, we can hear what it’s trying to communicate.
For Sajida, her eye twitch is a physical manifestation of stress.
And that meant not doing everything herself and being comfortable with delegating, which was a challenge in and of itself.
But doing so only helped her create a sense of renewed energy and passion.
The passion keeps things positive
“The idea–it’s plentiful. It has many different directions and to see it begin to unfold, and see how other people react to it… That dopamine hit, dopamine hit, dopamine hit just continues to brew the spirits.”
When you’re creating a product that ultimately helps others, seeing the vision slowly unlock is highly rewarding.
“You see the glimmer of ideas coming to life like, ‘Oh that came from my head over there!’ It’s real, tangible reinforcement and it's the building blocks of a really damn good idea.”
Sajida is also intentional about keeping a positive mindset toward the work she’s doing, even in cases where others could easily get down.
Those involved with the project would bring forth competitors, coming from a place of lack or fear.
Instead of feeling worried, she took that as a sign. It’s reassurance that they’re onto something.
“Yes, there are elements of what they do that's similar to what we do, but we have a very different spine, a very different true north. Anchor in your true north.”
Sticking to her true north, investors can see that too. She’s not above celebrating even the smallest successes.
People who knew nothing about them saw their deck and wanted to start a conversation. An unfortunate “no” led to a learning experience of how to get messaging across in a more succinct way.
It’s easy to push forward with a positive mindset when the rewards have been so profound, even in the starting stages.
The mental freedom alone has been incredibly empowering.
“Apparently, I felt like I was in jail, and now it's like, I can think of whatever I want! I think it’s amazing, just finding the beauty in all the different forks in the road versus focusing on what could happen. Instead of ‘I could lose this, I could lose that,’ spinning it around to, ‘Here's another opportunity.’ So, the freedom is just lovely.”
Key takeaways from the beginning stages of entrepreneurship
The last year has been full of nothing but learning experiences for Sajida. And through all the highs, lows, and everything in between, she’s come to realize some pretty important factors that have led to her success thus far:
🌱 Have a support system (that can also keep you in check)
Having people around that can check you in a healthy way is going to help you keep your eye on your vision. Surround yourself with people who share your passion and want you to succeed.
🌱 Don’t be afraid to stop learning for fear of failure
There is no such thing as failure, only information. If something doesn’t go according to plan, we have the opportunity to take a step back, reflect on what happened, and choose a new direction moving forward.
🌱 Nothing has to be perfect to get started
“Perfect will kill your product, so don't go for perfection and just do it. The difference between those who succeed and those who don't, is that those who succeed just kept doing regardless.”_
🌱 Cut out the noise and focus on your vision
“I think that at the heart of it, I find most co-founders have a good heart, they have a good purpose. You have to just cut out the noise, focus on what you're doing, and unlock your vision. That's it.”
You get plenty of advice. What you rarely get is a pause. Each month, we’ll share a simple prompt to help you step out of execution mode and consider what “founding well” looks like in your world right now.
When’s the last time you’ve touched base with your ‘True North?’ Before deciding where to go next, it can help to remember what you’re oriented toward. This prompt offers a moment to touch that internal compass, without asking you to follow it anywhere just yet.
Feel free to pull out old fashioned pen and paper, or create a new doc just for journaling, and spend a few focused moments thinking about the following:
- What feels non-negotiable to me about how I want to live or work, even if it’s hard to honor right now?
- Where have I felt most aligned in the past–and what was present then?
- If I stripped away external expectations, what would still matter to me?
- What do I want to protect as I keep building?
- What version of success feels honest to me right now–even if it’s quieter than before?
There’s no right or wrong answer. If nothing comes up, that’s okay too! Use this as space to notice what is real for you today. A few messy lines are enough.
If you're comfortable sharing your insights with us, let us know at foundingwell@vallelegal.com.