Recently, I added the following tag line to my blog: thoughts and experiences in starting a career as an entrepreneur. (I thought by placing the focus of my blog on the single thing that consumes nearly 80% of my waking hours I would be encouraged to post more frequently while still capturing things that are important to me, but that’s neither here nor there).

I think the spin I am puting on things is an interesting one. It’s not just about being an entrepreneur, it’s not just about being a first-time entrepreneur. Rather, it’s about being an entrepreneur at the very start of my career, which, if you think about it, is an interesting problem.

You may have heard something along the lines of, “academics are important, but there is no substitute for experience.” [Explitive deleted]! This is so [explitive deleted] true!

I’ve found that in all businesses, but in marketing and interactive especially, the common path for the entrepreneur is to spend a good chunk at one or more big agencies, build some good relationships, work on some cool projects, and sooner or later spin off an agency of their own.

And this makes perfect sense. It’s much easier to do something after you’ve watched someone else do it first. It’s even easier if you’ve assisted that someone in the task. All of that base business-running knowledge that you get by working at different businesses surely helps a great deal when building your own.

So what about us?

Well, the one thing we lack is any real experience. The core at dynamIt are not only first-time entrepreneurs, but we are first time professionals. This lack of experience has put us in some tough situations before, there have certainly been a lot of “wow” moments along the way.

Take for example the concept of pricing. What is an appropriate hourly rate for the type and quality of work we do? This is a tricky question, price yourself too high and be precieved as a rip-off, price yourself too low and do not expect to be taken seriously. Now, imagine trying to answer this question when you’ve never worked in the industry and never purchased from the market.

So, how do we do it? How do we get up to speed? Answer: we imbibe, we soak it all in. Nick spends at least four mornings a week getting coffee or breakfast with various professionals both industry related and not. We’ve got an outstanding advisory board (yeah, they’re good). We surround ourselves with excellent mentors at every chance we get. And, if that doesn’t quite do the trick we try, fail, try again.

When people talk about the importance of (industry) experience, believe me, they’re not making it up. We’ve come a long way already, but those “Ah ha!” moments never cease.

Lately, I’ve been busier at work than ever before. Many would call this a good problem to have for an entrepreneur, but all I can focus on right now are the drawbacks.

Sure my stress level is higher, I get less sleep and feel less rested, I have fewer hours to relax, I have fewer hours to engage in the other fun things in my life. But, there is one thing I miss more than all of these. That is, I feel like I no longer have time to think.

Thinking may be my favorite way to pass the time. It comes in many formats. It may be working through some interesting math problems or completing an intellectual puzzle. Perhaps it’s coming up with new ideas, dreams, plans, goals, etc. and thinking them through. Maybe it is simply reflecting on the day while strategizing for tomorrow.

At any rate, I miss it. My plan for the next month is to control my time better and possibly free up some time to think.