An interview with Patrick McGinnis about starting a side business while working full-time, how to start a business, prevent FOMO from affecting our daily lives and his best career advice.

Welcome to the 87th episode of 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel. As your host, my goal is to curate the best advice from the world’s smartest and most interesting people by asking them just 5 questions.

This episodes guest:

My guest today is author and venture capitalist, Patrick McGinnis. Born in Sanford, Maine, Patrick coined the term FOMO, or “fear of missing out”, while studying at Harvard Business School back in 2004. Six years later, he founded Dirigo Advisors working with investors and fast-growing companies in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Then, went on to work at AIG Capital Partners before writing his first book entitled “The 10% Entrepreneur”. In 2018, Patrick released the first episode of the FOMO Sapiens Podcast, and I was recently featured this April to talk about working from home and corporate culture. The success of the podcast led to his TEDx talk in 2019 and his new book, “Fear of Missing Out”. As a fellow entrepreneur, I was curious to hear about Patrick’s perspectives on what we should all be mindful of before we start a business.

The 5 questions I ask in this episode:

1. I was a part-time entrepreneur from 2006 to 2010, sacrificing nights and weekends outside of my big corporate job to work on projects that I was passionate about. I had no idea that eventually those passions, and the hard work, would turn into a full-time job. How do you know if you can make it on your own versus staying at your company?
2. If you do start a business outside of your full-time job, what’s the best way to meet the demands of both without being burned out?
3. Can you share some tips for people who have great business ideas, but don’t know how to start them and fear failure?
4. How can we prevent FOMO from affecting our daily decisions and instead focus on activities that bring us meaning and purpose?
5. What is your best piece of career advice?

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