What I learned from The Martian as an entrepreneur

The novel correlates with so much of what I have learned over the last few years being a start-up kid, writes Tung Nguyen in Tech in Asia

I have been the founder of a small start-up called Bookaholic Library for more than 2.5 years and sometimes I think of being a young entrepreneur as staying in a planet isolated from the whole world. There may be loneliness, fatigue, scarce of resources, and above all, the dream of some days you will get back to earth.

One thing at a time

There should be a reason why Mark repeatedly reminded himself of this sentence throughout most of the novel.

The biggest misconception about working effectively is being able to multi-task. If you try to do multiple things at once, in most cases, you will end up missing some important details or spending longer time than expected, resulting in a downfall in not only your productivity but also your overall team’s efficiency. Instead, try to focus on only one thing or two and only move to other tasks when your current task is done.
 

Keep an eye on all the resources you have and try to manage costs effectively

The idea is when Mark was left behind, the first thing he did was to check everything he had and calculated how much time he had left, considering what things could be used, and for what reasons. He hoped to survive until somebody came back and help him.
 

The same thing works for your business. There are many types of things that you have to pay for like office stuff, electricity bill, internet bill, and gasoline. These may seem trivial but once they add up, they could be a staggering sum for your company. 

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.