Peru has one of the highest rates of entrepreneurship in the world. Businesses with the greatest potential for profitability are those related to food sales, gastronomy, tourism, and, more recently, digital consulting, among others. However, while new businesses are created every year, the vast majority fail to become sustainable and eventually close.

As I mentioned in a previous article, I studied business administration between 1988 and 1992 with the intention of acquiring the knowledge to start and run my own business. However, after graduating, I began by interning and then working in the corporate world for 21 years in consumer goods, automotive, banking, and retail companies. Only in the last decade have I ventured into entrepreneurship, alongside my brothers, in our family business specializing in the sale of construction finishes.

For the past three years, I’ve been toying with the idea of ​​creating an independent company (a spin-off) from our existing organization, specifically for a particular product, using associated technology. To that end, we’ve participated twice in the National Program for Technological Development and Innovation – ProInnóvate – competition. We’ve reached the second phase with a demo or MVP (minimum viable product) and are still working hard to get this internal venture off the ground. So, a third participation is highly likely, this time to secure seed funding for the initiative.

In that vein, a few days ago, I watched for the second time a podcast from the Era Digital program, hosted by Diego Razzeto and titled “Businessmen’s Meeting.” In it, he talks with three entrepreneurs from Generation X whose companies are leaders in different sectors of our economy. Near the end of the episode, Diego asks them a simple yet profound question, which I will paraphrase based on my understanding: If you could, what would you say today to your younger selves, say those between 23 and 30 years old?

However, taking all of this into consideration, I realize that the best undertaking I’ve ever undertaken began (in the midst of the pandemic in July 2020) just before my 50th birthday and is still evolving and being perfected. It consists of discovering who I am, and I can only do that by understanding and accepting my physical traits, my temperament and character, my intellectual abilities, my habits—which can become either virtues or vices—and my principles and values. This endeavor will end on the day I die.

Below, I share some personal lessons learned from this venture.

1. It’s never too late to start, no matter how old you are.
2. If you reach a leadership position in your work, you will more easily see that you are there to deploy yourself in service.
3. You will discover your Non-Negotiables, regarding your actions in life in general, whether on the personal, family, work or business side.
4. This undertaking, I assure you, will make you a better person, in every sense of the word, as you will consciously develop and enhance your virtues.
5. You will understand that this undertaking has as its fundamental pillar love, for yourself and for others, starting with your home.
6. Finally, and using an analogy to the terminology of a business venture, this will become a unicorn to the nth power.

Based on these personal lessons, I share a couple of phrases.

• “Know thyself.” Entrance portico to the Temple of Apollo, 8th century BC
• “The three things I’ve found helpful in coping with life are having low expectations, having a sense of humor, and surrounding myself with family and friends.” — Charlie Munger

If you’ve made it this far, regardless of your age, I invite you to take the plunge; I assure you it will change your life for the better.

Go for it! Don’t be afraid to take this personal journey, and as always, row hard, out to sea and against the current!