10 mistakes you're making as a startup employee | Zapier

Be pro-active. Take the initiative to be creative because you have the ability to pave the way for immense growth for both the company and yourself.

Whenever possible take the time to stop and observe what is going on at your startup, list the things you've noticed, and present this list to your leader and ask which items you can go after.

This helps them see that you have initiative without stepping on anyone's toes.

Your job description is only a general guide of what the company needed at the time when they were hiring. Take this as the opportunity to learn that comes rarely.

Begin listening, observing, and asking questions. This will help you get some hands-on experience in building a foundation in various areas of the company while also getting a grasp of their needs before hiring specialized people.

At a startup, there will be opportunities after opportunities and you will be eager to prove yourself. While nothing is wrong with this, it is important to make sure that you will not overwork yourself in order to get a pat on the back.

Never compromise your sanity and learn how to take the time off. Setting boundaries will help you feel less burnt out.

Flexibility not only on projects but also on how you handle things is important.

Take things in with stride and reflect on the skills you've learned.

Feedbacks at startups hit different and it may often catch you off-guard.

It is important to be proactive with creativity but also with feedbacks, may these be positive or negative.

When feedbacks are given, reflect on it, and work on it. Don't limit yourself because you always have the potential for growth.

Actively change your mindset and change your attitude in order to strengthen your reactions to feedbacks.

It is important to let people know what you are working on.

At a startup, the people we are working with are usually wearing many different hats all at once and the possibility of having many hands in one project is possible.

Over-communicating is a learned skill and it may take a while but you will then be able to mitigate micromanaging, avoid duplication of work, and every work you do is noted.

Having low confidence in yourself and in your line of work is an inevitable feeling to experience but you are hired because you are worthy of a spot on a rocket ship.

Don't sulk on the negative self-talk because all of us will need to get comfortable with the feeling of uncertainty and not knowing all of the answers. It's normal, so fight back the imposter syndrome.

One of the best things you can do for your career is to generalize your skills.

On one hand, you are learning about marketing while on the other you are taking on sales initiatives. This is of course dependent on your knowledge of things but being able to generalize can teach you a little about everything and can help you realize what you actually want to specialize in.