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7 Things I've Learned While Working Remotely For Startups Internationally at 21

As a business student in one of Canada's top business schools, from the moment I walked into the building as a young Mexican boy, I was BOMBARDED with people trying to steer me into their own career paths. "Oh Accounting this, consulting internships that, Big 4 for life" were the only things I heard for the better half of my first year. By the end of that year, for my mental health, I decided to explore the one thing no one recommended in business school, the Start Up world.

I was 20 at the time and I decided to move to Bali, Indonesia for the summer where I worked for multiple start ups and fell in love with it and today, at 21 during a world pandemic, I want to share 7 things I learned (mostly from mistakes) from working with startups across Indonesia, Mexico, Canada, and the UK!

1.- Ignore the white noise or just unplug the TV all-together
Normally people won't understand what "doing your thing" means and will try to teach you how

2.- Ask your heart out!
When working remotely, sometimes the whole thing becomes like a big game of the Broken Telephone game with huge stakes! Communication can get lost through the channels easily so it is better to say "Could you repeat that?" rather than "Oh, you meant THAT?!" (Learned the hard way)

3.- Manage expectations
There is nothing wrong with up-selling yourself and taking on challenges, but also explore and understand your limits! Focus your ALL efforts in SOME tasks rather than SOME of your efforts in ALL of the tasks.

4.- Work hard but not only in the start up
It is a good quality to be a hard working person, but you also have to work just as hard on yourself and your mental health to truly reach your full potential

5.- The key to success... Adapting!
Honestly I cant stress this one enough. When working on start ups or even multinational companies, I can bet 99% of the time things will not go exactly as planned. Success lays in being able to adapt your plans to the situation and succeed 100% of the time

6.- You are not alone!
Put your pride aside and reach out! You might not be the only one in that situation and people are always looking to help! Join communities and be an active, positive member of them to create support networks!

7.- Enjoy it!
Yeah yeah cliché I know, but you will more times than often feel the urge to quit or burn out. If you are not enjoying this anymore take a break, and look back at what motivated you to start in the first place!

Wow you made it to the end... I did not see this coming. Um.... ok fine I will share a small secret with you. If you want more guides and stories like this, maybe I can get you to sign up to my weekly newsletter? https://strangersalmanac.substack.com/welcome

Cheers!
Juan

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