The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Entrepreneurship: What No One Tells You

In the past, living the American Dream consisted of having a nice home in the suburbs with a white picket fence, a beautiful family, and a good-paying job… in other words, to live the American Dream means you’ve “made it.” If you were to ask someone today what the American Dream is, nine times out of ten, you probably won’t hear the words “white picket fence” in their response at all but you will see that their version of “making it” is very different today than it was in the past.

Today’s version of living the American Dream is being an entrepreneur, working your own schedule, calling the shots, and making lots of money while doing it. For those working 9 to 5 jobs, the idea of being your own boss is a dream come true. Why? Because they’re miserable working their 9 to 5. According to CNBC, 85% of American workers are unhappy with their jobs.

They feel like they would be so much happier and more productive if they owned their own business. Well, the real question is, would those people truly be happy owning their own business if they knew what it really takes to run a business? Most wouldn’t. They could read up on and study the most helpful tips on how to start a business and even attend Missoula”s Startup Weekend to get a deeper insight into entrepreneurship but once they see everything that goes into it, they’ll want the ease of their 9 to 5 back!

Now, that’s not saying that starting a business is just awful but it’s definitely not as easy as people tend to think it is either. If you’re thinking of starting your own business, by all means, study all the helpful tips on how to start a business but also take heed to these tips that people fail to tell you about starting your own business.

Success Isn’t Immediate

Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will your business. If you pay close attention when you look at different “tips and tricks to starting your own business” articles, you’ll notice that at the end of every one of them, it always says “and watch the money start pouring in!”

The way those articles read is pretty much, if you follow these “simple” steps, you can have your very own business and watch the money start pouring in… Well, the reality behind those misleading articles is that businesses don’t “see the money rolling in” immediately after completing those simple steps like it’ll have you thinking.

In fact, it can take months to years before a business sees that, but nobody is going to actually tell you that! This isn’t to discourage you by any means but it’s important that you understand that starting a business is a huge undertaking where you’re not going to have a steady income as you did with your 9 to 5.

It’s important to know that for your own financial security to know if that’s the move you need to make at that time.

Homeowner’s Insurance Won’t Cover Damages For Home-Based Businesses

For people who run home-based businesses, they somehow got it in their head that whatever damages they incur while working from home that their homeowner’s insurance policy would cover it. Not sure where that idea came from but if someone tells you that, don’t believe it! If you want reliable coverage of your business, you’re going to need to invest in a credible business insurance company.

People Will Want You to Fail

As hard as it may be to believe, everyone around you who you think are your friends or who you may think are your biggest supporters are actually the ones who want to see you fail the most. Just think of it like you would life… As you go through life, you realize quickly that everybody isn’t going to like you or want to be your friend; the same theory applies to you starting your business…

Everyone isn’t going to want to see you succeed, and that’s okay. The sooner you wrap your head around that, the less pain you’ll feel when you realize a person you thought was your close friend, only wanted to see you fail.

You’re Going to Fail

To add to the above and how people are going to want to see you fail… well, as a new business owner, you’re going to fail in certain areas during your entrepreneurial journey but that doesn’t mean you’re a failure as an entrepreneur; it just means that something you tried didn’t work, so now it’s time to try a different method to make that particular effort work. When you fail at something, you pick yourself up and keep working until you make it work.

Success Will Be an Unexplainable Feeling

In realizing people wanting you to fail, then actually experiencing failure, you’re going to feel quite discouraged but don’t give up because once you finally do reach the success you’ve been striving for, it’s going to taste so sweet. You’ll feel good within yourself in knowing that you didn’t give up on yourself when others did, and you can take pleasure in knowing the people who wanted to see you fail are green with envy!

You don’t have to rub it in their face that you succeeded despite their opposition but you certainly have the right to be boldly proud of your success in front of them!