Today, after months of searching, I finally found an apartment to move into. It’s a 2 bedroom 2 bath six blocks away from the beach in Santa Monica near Main St. I looked at over 30 apartments and emailed dozens more. I am exhausted and relieved. Aside from a sweet pad with a rad view, what did I get out of my apartment search? It reminded me that I have qualities that will make me a good entrepreneur.

Jesse: “I’ve looked at like 30 apartments.”
Friend: “That’s crazy, but then again it’s you. So yea, that makes sense.”

Sometimes I question whether or not I am cut out to be an entrepreneur. If I was, wouldn’t I have started by now? Well, forget all that pessimism, because my apartment search gave me renewed hope about my abilities.

I forgot that I can have an obsessive personality when I’m passionate about something.  It definitely flared up during my apartment search. I was so focused on my goal of finding an apartment that everything else was blocked out. I had tunnel vision, the only thing I could think about was finding an apartment.  Failure wasn’t an option.  This sounds very similar to all the stories I’ve read about on successful entrepreneurs.  You work endless hours but you’re so focused that it doesn’t seem to bother you.   You do what you have to in order to succeed.

Also like a start up, I researched the hell out of my apartment search.  I was on every apartment site looking for the best deals. Since I was looking at places in Santa Monica, an area that I’m not too familiar with, therefore I cast the widest net possible to see what kind of apartment I could get, for my budget, in the nicest area possible.  Which area did I want to live in? Wilshire/Montana in Santa Monica? Main Street in Santa Monica? What about surrounding areas like Venice, Mar Vista, and Culver City? Well, I searched them ALL. Like I said, I looked at over 30 apartment in person and I emailed dozens more. It was a maddening process.  Slowly as I educated myself, my choices narrowed down, and my vision become much clearer.  That kind of due diligence is needed before launching a company.  My hard work and persistence paid off and now I have a great apartment in a wonderful area.

I know talk is cheap and these are just words until I take action.  But my level of self doubt decreased dramatically when I realized the similar characteristics between my apartment hunt and a start up.  Now, I should really get on this goal.  (Big ups to Mike Williams for this blog comment on my “Do I have Entrepreneurial Courage?” post)