I love gaming! Well, not anymore. I used to and still try to escape the daily temptation it brings. Fans of euro truck simulator will agree with me that so many hours can be lost in the fun of the game.
After spending hours and hours playing euro truck simulator, I discovered important entrepreneurial lessons for start-ups. I thought to myself – “why not throw a blog post on that?” After all, if you’re observant enough you can always pick on anything, just as you’re about to with the points outlined throughout the post.
Start Somewhere and Progress
With the euro truck simulator you start your career as a ‘newbie’. You don’t own a garage or a truck. Not even a cent. Nothing. It’s your driving skill and your dream. What are accessible to you are quick jobs to help you make some quick $$$. But with patience, you’ll realize how far you can go with simply your dream and your skill. Consider this – with your start-up, regardless of where you are, you might not have the resources needed. Some funding get traction. But that simple dream backed with a little effort and some patience could take you places. That’s your starting point and you will have to embrace it and then progress. Believe me, ideas are not costly, but time, effort and planning are very costly and will give the idea some life.
Take Care of Your Assets
As you continue pumping more hours into the game, you have a chance to get a bank loan. That’s when you get to buy assets – a truck and a garage. By now, you’ve moved from taking quick jobs and are now eligible for freight jobs and high value cargos. But there’s always a problem with truck drivers. They are reckless (my experience while gaming). Whenever you hit something, the truck will need repairs. A little mistake costs a lot of euros. Instead of investing, you’re spending money on repairs. This projects the importance of taking care of your assets. See, if that laptop encounters a crash and doesn’t boot, you will realize the importance of always backing up your files and keeping your antivirus updated. The little resources you use for your start-up should be cared of. You don’t want to waste any more time and money maintaining the assets than acquiring some.
Don’t Rush
As a driver, you’re pressured by delivery times and luring on-time bonuses. Thus you’re always speeding because that extra buck is important to the growth of the business. Over-speeding is also fun. But along the way, over-speeding comes with some speeding offenses. Even worse, heavier cargos have a way of swerving the truck and causing damages. You never want to rush yourself with decisions because some are going to cost your start-up a lot of money and serious repercussions. You don’t have to rush yourself when you can do something perfectly on allotted time. Yes, there might be greater rewards with on-time completions but don’t overlook the costs in case something goes wrong. Do not rush yourself.
As with gaming, learn to have fun. It might not work out now. Not even tomorrow. Do what you love and you will always have fun. Experiment and stick with what works while also aiming for traction and growth.