My Journey
Six months ago, I quit my job in a tech startup and launched my own business. To be honest it's a lot more mentally demanding than I would've imagined. Image trying to push a huge rock uphill every single day – that's what it feels like. If I stop pushing, everything I've worked for could tumble right back to square one.
I started working in GDPR space where I helped businesses draft and manage their contract for data processing. However, it was really hard to drive the demand and solve the 'why now' problem. So I adopted a 'fishing' approaching intead of 'hunting' - I set up the system and made it autopilot. I still get requests every now and then, but this business turned out to be more of a side project than a high potential company.
The Pivot
I realized that I needed to change the direction, so I pivoted towards an area that I felt much more passtionate about - women's health, starting from constipation. 💩 The thing is, women are much more likely to get constipated than men because our large intestines are on average 7cm longer than men. This means that we need more gut muscle effort to push the stools along our digestive systems. And I also found that gut health is most often a topic that we don't discuss enough.
And I launched the app one month ago on App Store! ✨ It's called "Balloon: Gut Health Coach" if you are intesrested - We are now looking for women design partners to help us shape the product in its early days, and I'm really excited to work with this community to improve women's health and well being!
What I learned
So from GDPR laws to a ... poop app :)) The pivot is drastic but I learned that:
- You are not a hostage of your idea. It's more important to work on something that genuinely excites you
- Failures a part of the journey. What matterse the most is the ability to get up everyttime after the failure, and keep experimenting with new ideas.
- You need to look after your emotional health. When things get tough, do things that make you feel good! Talk with friends, go for a walk, sometimes I just have a good cry and let everything out!
