Entrepreneurship is not about pitching an idea to a bunch of venture capitalists in exchange for 10% of your business (idea) and then getting millions of dollars to splurge on a spiffy office with cushy chill-out-chairs like to Google office in Sydney
image source: decoist.com
Oh! not to mention a fat founders salary. I mean, it could be, in some ecosystems, lol, but not in most places.
Most of the times, starting up means having less cash than you anticipated for your business idea and having to work for free while you live off your savings which eventually run out too, so you have to start selling stuff: watches, cars, motorcycle helmets. I wish I could have saved the exact lowest figure in my bank account, but I think it was something like $2.50. No joke.
Starting a business is about having to do a bunch of stuff yourself, including your own lunch, cleaning the toilet, and locking up after a hard days work.
weekends? yep.
Unpaid overtime? yep.
Starting a business means clients will own you (until you eventually figure out how to push back). They will owe you money you need to keep your business alive, and they will make unreasonable demands for speed, quality and of course, price.
Your friends and family with salaries will go on vacation, wile you stay in on Friday night typing a HIVE blog post about being an entrepreneur, lol. But seriously, your employee friends will have nicer cars, vacations and free weekends, while you'll be working on that weekend gig while you figure out ways to find your niche, because whatever business idea you had will have competition and you'll need to stand out from your competition if you're going to get anywhere.
But...is any of this reason enough to give up the idea of stepping into the unknown in favor of a warm and fuzzy "predictable life"?
Amazing adventures are not without danger and fear of the unknown. Imagine if Bilbo and Frodo would have stayed in the Shire, would you have enjoyed reading that book?
images source: Tenor
If you DO decide to startup and if you Do decide to stick to it and improve your product and make sure it solves a problem for a specific group of people, and if you spend a few minutes every day thinking how to market your business, get referrals and reviews. If you educate yourself every day and if you work on improving the lives of your employees and If you focus on ADDING VALUE to a niche... People will look for you to solve their problem and if you're good at not spending all the money you earn, you'll business will grow, your client base will grow and eventually, your bank account (and your crypto portfolio) will grow too. Most important of all, however, you'll have an amazing story to tell.
I wrote this blog post while listening to a nice organic downtempo mix:
In the comments section someone wrote this
to anyone reading this, be proud of how far u have come. small progress is still progress. keep your head up and keep doing amazing things. so much love
I hope it makes your day as it did mine.
Cover image created using Mid Journey and edited in Canva Pro.