Imagine building a successful tech company, selling it to GoDaddy, and still feeling like an imposter. That’s exactly what Brian Nolan, founder and CEO of Book Outdoors, experienced. In this episode of The Conscious Entrepreneur podcast, Brian opens up about his journey as an entrepreneur, the challenges he faced, and how he manages imposter syndrome. He shares valuable insights on the importance of being gritty and resilient, combatting entrepreneurial loneliness by surrounding yourself with like-minded entrepreneurs, and taking care of your mental health. Brian’s story is a reminder that success doesn’t always eliminate self-doubt, but with the right mindset and support, you can thrive as an entrepreneur.
Key Takeaways:
- The willingness to push harder, venture further, and take bold risks distinguishes successful entrepreneurs from the rest. Tenacity sets entrepreneurs apart.
- Knowing when to harness your energy for maximum productivity and when to step back for rejuvenation to prevent burnout is part of mastering your energy management.
- Brian’s concept of a ‘conscious entrepreneur’ highlights the advantage of those who can tap into their emotional landscape, using self-awareness of strengths, weaknesses, and feelings to inform pivotal decisions.
- Entrepreneurs require more than business networks; they need authentic emotional backing. There is profound importance of such support in facing obstacles, confiding fears, and counteracting feelings of isolation and burnout.
Quotes
- I’ve always thought this in my life and my career – I’ve always felt like if it doesn’t work out, I know what my skill set is and my strengths, and I could just go back to getting a job. If I really need to, I could go back to getting a job. And so that’s always given me the safety net and the comfort of taking these risks. (10:51 | Brian Nolan)
- “Imposter syndrome is a real thing, even now. Even now that I’ve built and sold and had some success at building a company. It creeps in all the time.” (18:39 | Brian Nolan)
- “I actually gave a little talk on this back in the day about grit and about persistence and perseverance and passion. Those are sort of the things that go into grit. That’s one of the things as an entrepreneur, you just have to have, you have to be able to go a step or more further than most people would. And so you have to find that energy and figure out how to push forward through burnout.” (26:19 | Brian Nolan)
- “This is what I think a conscious entrepreneur is actually, it’s that awareness of what your strengths and weaknesses are, and awareness of how you’re feeling and your emotions so that you can use them to your advantage.” (49:22 | Brian Nolan)
- “Part of our employee perks are that we reimburse for any kind of mindfulness app that somebody wants to subscribe to, or gym membership, or Peloton or whatever it is, those are the perks that we offer since we don’t have the office.” (53:39 | Brian Nolan)
Links
Connect with Brian Nolan:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briancnolan/
Website: https://bookoutdoors.com/
Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://consciousentrepreneur.us/
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