Being a good startup employee requires a wide variety of skills and qualities. How do you know if you’re the right fit? Even before you dive into startup culture, you may find that your behavior in everyday life is pointing towards a startup role. If you’ve found yourself in these 7 situations, what are you waiting for? You’ll thrive at a startup!
1. You can put yourself in someone else’s shoes
During the last Super Bowl, your girlfriend asked you to explain football to her. Oh man, that’s a tough one. But you didn’t throw some advanced lingo at her or get frustrated and tell her not to worry about it. You broke it down, explained it from a beginner’s point of view, and satisfied her curiosity without missing the first touchdown. Now that’s a skill. Plus, you just scored someone else to go to the game with.
2. You solve problems instead of complaining about them
After your last breakup, did you spend the night crying on the couch over a tub of ice cream? No way. You hit up the hottest clubs with your friends. When something goes wrong, you can’t just sit there and let it hurt you. Things happen and you know how to learn from it and take the necessary steps to move on.
3. You’re optimistic
This year’s resolution: work out three times a week, no exceptions. A couple months went well, but in April, you slipped and skipped a whole week. Most people would say the resolution was broken and it’s time to give up, but not you. You kept going, and as of August, that’s the only week you missed. Go get em tiger!
4. You’re willing to take risks
It’s Thursday night – dinner night with your friends. They suggest sushi, but you’ve never had sushi, and you’re not sure if you’d like it. On one hand, you can make an excuse to not go, just wait until next week and hope they go for tacos or Italian. But what if you really like it? You’ll never know unless you try it. Sometimes you need to take a risk. So you take it…and it turns out you like sushi so much you suggest going again the next week.
5. You’re able to use feedback as a tool for improvement
When you moved into your new apartment and your mother came for her first visit, you knew it was coming. “The couch is the wrong color. The coffee table is in the wrong spot. Where are all the decorative pillows?” But you have to admit, she was right – your dark walls did make the living room pretty depressing. And instead of needlessly fighting for your lack of decorative skills, you took her advice. Now you have the nicest living room on the block. You’re also not afraid to give feedback, because mom should know that no one uses the term “as if” in conversation anymore.
6. You take responsibility for your actions instead of blaming others
Remember when you were a kid, and you were playing football in the house when your mother specifically told you not to? And then you inevitably broke her favorite vase? You had two options: either take the blame and apologize or blame it on your brother. Being the responsible person you are, you took the former option. Your mother might have been mad, but you became a better person in the process and your brother looked up to you for doing it.
7. You try new things that aren’t in your typical skill set
You’re not much of a “computer person,” but when your laptop broke you didn’t want to spend the $200 to get it fixed. Why not try it yourself first? After a little bit of research, you found a solution that could save you the hefty bill. Within an hour of opening up the command line, you came out with a perfectly working computer and $200 securely in your bank account. Plus, you can now exchange your computer skills for pizza when your friends have the same computer troubles.
Do you fit the description? If yes, click here. We may just be your ticket into a career you love. If no, don’t worry… startups aren’t for everyone!
