What does being an Entrepreneur ACTUALLY look like?
We’ve all heard the horror stories of the failure rate of entrepreneurial ventures. Sometimes, no matter how kick-ass your idea, and how much you grind into it, you’re still facing an uphill battle. But I think what seems to be the common denominator amongst a lot of these fail-starts is the wrong mindset from the outset. The ideology of an entrepreneur has been embellished in the media much like the life of a Hollywood actor — sure, there are those that make it big, but there are a lot more of them that never make it anywhere — and a lot of people are surprised by this. We know that disappointment is the delta between expectations and reality, so let’s start setting the right mindset here. I want to help entrepreneurs reframe their expectations by dispelling some of the common myths about the glamorous startup life.
MYTH: Entrepreneurs are all wealthy.
Don’t become an entrepreneur if your only goal is to become rich — you probably will not end up that way. Starting a business is not a get-rich-quick alternative, but a path to wealth-building with a strong potential for success; with the right variables lined up, there’s no upper limit to how much you can earn.
MYTH: Entrepreneurs café hop their way around the world with the ultimate location-freedom.
Insert image of a “digital nomad’ here. The idealist pursuit of location-freedom is a worthy one — and our interconnectedness has seen advances in our ability to always remain plugged in. But while being a digital nomad is an excellent way to finance your itinerant lifestyle for those prioritizing a life of experiences, there’s really no hack to hard work. Even if you have the option to work from a beachside café in Bali, the successful entrepreneur will begin to recognize that it’s simply not in his favour to place distance between his team and his customers. Unless your business can run sustainability without your involvement at all, remote freedom is more of a utopian reality only of lifestyle bloggers and social media darlings. Running a full-scale startup requires early mornings, long days and sometimes even longer nights. You’re singlehandedly responsible for the success of your business (including the responsibility of your team, your customers, and your investors), meaning you’re always on call and there’s always a fire burning in the building you need to put out.
MYTH: Entrepreneurs have the best work-life balance.
Starting and running a business is a constant uphill battle. There’s always too much to do and not enough time; every entrepreneur I know wishes they had 48 hours to each day. You’re juggling multiple hats and responsibilities, everything needs your involvement, and everyone wants your attention. For the first few years, it’s like every matter is more urgent and more important than the last.
So in order to unlock more personal time in the future, you will need to sacrifice the majority of your personal time in the beginning. Be prepared to eject yourself from social evenings and weekend travels, because your 9–5 life is now a figment of your past life. You will be a ghost of social life past, but honestly, you won’t even miss it.
MYTH: Being an entrepreneur is easy!
The chances of success are overwhelmingly against you. Sure, we’re all conditioned to glamorize the industry, and our psychology is rigged such that we always believe we are going to be the next great thing. Blame evolution for this one. But managing expectations is crucial for success. The famous example of James Dyson — who managed to fail 5,162 prototypes before inventing the now universally standard bagless vacuum cleaner — edifies the claim that success is not a one-stop-shop. Resilience is a muscle that needs to be exercised daily, and no matter how hard you work, and how smart you are, sometimes it still doesn’t work out. Be prepared.
MYTH: Entrepreneurs live in a utopia of freedom.
It’s true that you’ll be setting most of the rules, so by definition, you are “free”. You can abolish the 9–5 regiment, work from bed, toss out all your stuffy suits, and declare permanent vacation mode. But ultimately, you are now bearing all responsibility for making this business work. And that kind of pressure is sometimes paralyzing. This means making tremendous sacrifices and living a precarious life for dramatically longer than you might have bargained for.
So here you have it — faced with reality, is your dream, passion or idea something that you’re really willing to sacrifice the rest of your life for?
