6 things I hate about being an entrepreneur
read time 4 minutes
Despite what you see plastered across social media, the truth is:
The world of entrepreneurship is not all it’s cracked up to be.
In fact, if you don’t go in with eyes-wide-open, there’s a good chance you’ll end regretting your decision to go into business for yourself.
Now, I don’t want to talk anybody out of going down the entrepreneurship-path…
But here are 6 things I wish I’d know before starting my first business:
1. Lack of Structure
I despise being told what to do.
The idea of owning my schedule… of being the one to decide what I do and when I do it was one of the things that attracted me to entrepreneurship in the first place.
But ya gotta be careful what you wish for.
‘Cause like the dog who catches the car, once I was ultimately the one responsible for organizing and structuring my life, I had no clue what to do next.
Turns out that not onky did I buck against external authority…
But at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, I also resisted my own internal authority.
I’d create elaborate schedules with well-intentioned plans of being productive, but then…
When the alarm went off in the morning… and I didn’t REALLY need to get up and get to work because nobody was gonna yell at me if I didn’t…
Then more often than not, I’d just stay in bed that little bit longer.
And it wasn’t just in the morning… it was everywhere.
I’d take three hour lunch breaks and go down YouTube rabbit-holes justifying it as research, but at the end of the day, I just wasn’t getting all the things done that I’d intended to.
Turns out I’m a really lenient boss when it comes to holding myself accountable to my schedule.
Creating structure in your life is one the biggest problems you have to solve as a new entrepreneur if you want to be successful.
Nothing could’ve prepared me for how hard this has ultimately proven to be.
If you struggle with self-discipline, then watch this video or read this article for the exact steps I followed to get develop discipline and overcome procrastination.
2. You Are Always The Problem
The deeper you go into entrepreneurship, the more you’ll be reminded of the simple fact that a system will never scale beyond it’s biggest constraint…
And in almost all cases, the biggest constraint in any business is YOU the founder.
Growing a business therefore is nothing more than continual process of identifying and removing your biggest weakness over and over and over again until you get to the point where you are no longer a necessary part of the machine.
Entrepreneurship is the greatest personal development program in the world, but beware:
It only ever ends when you get out.
One of the biggest constraints you’ll face as an entrepreneur and leader is in how you think through problems.
Check this out to learn The Art of Thinking Strategically.
3. Living in the Pressure Cooker
Here’s a harsh truth ya might as well accept now:
Nobody is coming to save you.
In fact, everybody on the team will be looking to you to save them.
Some people thrive under these conditions. Most don’t.
Regardless of how you process this, you will most likely feel a constant pressure…
Not only to deliver for your own sake..
Or your families…
But for the countless families that will come to rely on you, the business, and your product.
This will include employees expecting that biweekly paycheck, vendors with overdue invoices, and customers in desperate need of your solution to their problems…
How you handle this constant pressure will dictate how quickly you go bald.
Regular breathwork and State Management have been critical to how I process stress. I unpack this more on this episode of the Amplified Impact podcast: Unlocking the ADHD Entrepreneur’s Full Potential. (I think you’ll find this useful even if you don’t have ADHD).
4. Zero Work-Life Balance
Go ahead and erase this concept from your mind.
As an entrepreneur, it no longer applies.
But that’s okay, because you actually have something even more valuable now:
Work-Life Control
Now, referring back to the first point, this can be both a blessing and a curse.
Good luck figuring it out.
The trick is to recognize that either YOU own your schedule…
Or your schedule owns you.
There is no third option.
The way to own your schedule is through Time Blocking. Here’s my system for taking control of my schedule.
5. The Work Follows You Everywhere
There’s no escaping it…
Resistance is futile…
So ya might as well stop trying.
The work will always be sitting in the back of your mind because as an entrepreneur there will always be MORE to do.
This is an Open Cognitive Loop which only ever closes the day you sell or shut down the business.
Because of this, I recommend building a product you love for people you love serving.
If it’s gonna dominate your mind for the next X-number of years, ya might as well make it something you love thinking about.
6. Perpetual Impostor Syndrome
I’ve yet to meet an “uber-successful” business owner who had it all figured out.
Hell, I’ve yet to meet one who even has it mostly figured out.
Truth is, most successful people didn’t get to where they are because they knew what they were doing…
They were just too stupid to quit.
Now, when I say stupid, I don’t mean they’re actually stupid people.
(though a lot of them are)
What I mean is, they found them in situations where by all accounts, the chips were stacked against them, the probability of success was practically zero, and the logical move would’ve been to pack it up, go home, and get a job.
But they didn’t… they defied the odds and they persisted…
And wouldn’t ya know it, they eventually found success.
Turns out the only way you can win the game is by staying in the game.
But that doesn’t mean you as the entrepreneur will feel as though you belong on the field.
In fact, most of the time, you’ll feel the exact opposite.
You will question how the hell you got here because the game requires you to continually solve problems you have no clue how to solve.
But because nobody is coming to save you, it falls onto your shoulders to figure it out.
So you keep moving forward doing the best you can while putting on a brave face for the world so nobody can see just how badly you’re freaking out on the inside…
This means that as an entrepreneur you will live more or less every second of your life feeling a bit like an impostor…
Like at any moment, the Adulting-Police will figure out that you don’t belong and they’ll come kick you off the court.
Here’s the truth though (and I hope it brings you solace):
If you don’t ever feel like an impostor, it’s probably because you’ve stopped growing..
Stopped reaching for goals beyond your current capacity.
Stopped stepping into rooms with people operating beyond your level.
Stopped trying to do things that you’ve never done before.
The cure for impostor syndrome is to stop striving.
In my opinion, the cure to impostor syndrome is worse than the disease.
P.S. Despite all the downside…
In my book, there’s nothing better than having control over your life…
Or building a product that improves lives…
Or testing the limits of your true capacity…
Entrepreneurship is the best vehicle I’ve found for doing just that.
Just go in with your eyes wide open and be prepared for the inevitable bumps in the road and (most important of all) just don’t quit… and I promise, you’ll be alright.
Stay Hyperfocused, My Friend.
AV
P.S. We’re getting closer to releasing more info on Beyond the Apex University. This community includes every course I’ve ever created, monthly group coaching calls with, weekly accountability sprints, and so much more.
Reply to this email with the words “beyond the apex” and you’ll get a special early bird discount on launch.
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