The Glamour Of Being An Entrepreneur
When I tell people that I’m running an online business they get all “oooh” and “aaah”.
I’ve got to admit, it may sound really cool.
When I put it nicely, it sounds like this:
Hi I’m Paolo. I have an online, subscription based, business. I work from wherever I want. From my home in London, from shared office space (hubculture), from my house in the italian Dolomites or my place in Sardinia.
My business makes money even if I don’t get up in the morning, and I don’t have a boss to report to. No performance reviews, no boring meetings, no time wasted doing things that don’t matter.
Almost every person that hears this story goes like “wow, I’d love to work for myself/have my own startup/have my product/etc… that would be terrific!!!”.
The problem is that everyone is attracted to the “glamour” of running an online business, but very, very few see what the other side of the coin is, and would be willing to put the required effort in, and do without their comforts to get there.
To run your own business you have to change your priorities.
For example, when you’re starting up you may have to live very thin for a while. Are you prepared to cook your own meals and not going out for dinner? Are you prepared to postpone your plans of buying that new car/house that you always wanted? Are you ready to deal with customers in China in the early morning and with the ones in California late at night?
Are you willing to use your savings to grow your business or take a loan to pay collaborators? Do you believe in your idea enough to give that security up?
And most of the times, the (unspoken) answer is no.
Being “the boss” means you never switch off. Most of the time you will be thinking about ways to improve your business, or how to solve problem X and Y, how to market better, how to make the life of your customers better.
And you’ll be shit scared.
Because no-one can tell how well you will do. Starting a business is not a safe bet and there’s not much glamour in it.
It is just hard work, day, after day, after day.
That’s the price you pay if you don’t want to show up on Monday mornings and put up a fake professional smile.
So next time you hear one of those fabulous success stories, please don’t start thinking how cool that would be for you. Think instead about all of the sacrifices those people have made, and if you would be prepared to do the same to get what they’ve got.
