What it truly means to be “Self-Employed”

Let’s talk about Self-Employment, but, before I get into details I would like to share some feedback I got from sending out a Typeform to many of neighbors and family members (Both entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs) to learn about what they thought Self-Employment meant for them, here’s a little feedback of what I got:

“Be your own boss” — Marketing Manager @ CVS Caremark

“Make your own money to achieve financial independence” — Marketing Manager @ AT&T

“Means you’re doing entrepreneurial stuff” — Student @ UPRRP

This is just a couple of the many answers I got from the survey, we all know that this is definitely what it’s all about, being your own boss while making an earning to create financial independence. It is called being an entrepreneur, as we all know many business woman & men have taken on the duty to create innovative ideas to move the world. As Millennials, we’ve created a whole ecosystem driven to educate, expand & incubate cutting-edge ideas to make the world a better place. By collaborating with mentors, incubators and many others experienced in the field, young entrepreneurs are able to expand an idea they once had and turn it into a product with a lot less of the hassle (and money) it used to take earlier generations to do.

Nowadays there are many types of platforms where you can either market your idea, raise funds for it or just have someone talk to you about how you could make it better. Platforms like Antrocket & Kiva Zip who help you socially fund your idea with a very low fee or a 0% interest like Kiva Zip. Incubators like Piloto151 or Startups of Puerto Rico who dedicate their time to help and develop any idea. Finally online platforms like Puerto Rico Global who help you find the perfect teammate or the online resource to help one collaborate with others.

Because of the marketing and the social outcome these types of platforms can give any entrepreneur, we tend to glorify nowadays these young entrepreneurs with their successfulness and their ability to create a demand for a product or service that never existed before or socially innovate in an industry that definitely needed it. We all tend to applaud what these entrepreneurs are able to do, it takes dedication to spend all of your time in your “baby” and hope to see the best of it.

What very little people realize is the sacrifice and the trouble that most of these entrepreneurs seem to go through. We tend to applaud their final product, but no one congratulates them for going through the excruciating stress that the process takes. I don’t say these only because I’ve experienced it, I say this from the many entrepreneurs I’ve had the privilege to talk to and listen to their stories about how much shit they had to go through to reach the point they are today. If I mention my own experience, I remember the distance we had as a family when we started running our hotel, by this I don’t mean that we were never together, on the contrary, I think my mom and I spent more time together on our first 8 months of running than we ever had, but, as a complete family we barely saw each other. It took us a complete 8 months to actually sit on the dinner table and have our first meal as a complete family and not have to worry about the business. This doesn’t include the hell we all went through while we were in the process of construction, not only did we pull our hairs, there were nights where we were so stressed we couldn’t even sleep a minute, nights were we cried of frustration or had thoughts of giving up. Things like this are the process that entrepreneurs go through on a daily basis before they actually get to launch.

Recently I had the chance to be part of a panel of entrepreneurs talking about their experiences having their own businesses. From one of these, a very good friend of mine, Alan Taveras the Co-Founder of Brands Of Puerto Rico, talked about his experience before launching his e-commerce business and how the process of it was hard work and hell. How he had to present his idea to a million and one people before he could launch and how he failed a million of times before he could successfully launch one of the biggest e-commerce websites for the diaspora of Puerto Rico.

At the same time, I heard the story of the Founder of Suxess Clothing Apparel and how he literally started his business with his salary check from working as a sale clerk in Payless and how he struggled to pay his bills before he could design and launch his first product.

We have all seen the success stories from big entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs & Bill Gates, people who we hear about every day on the news, people who have shaped the technology industry and created a brand which talks for itself and creates its own demand. Many people don’t realize the struggles they both went through, both were dropouts, both of them got shit from their parents for taking that decision, Steve Jobs started out in a basement and when eventually established Apple he even got thrown out from his own business.

These are just a few stories from the millions I’ve heard about struggles, sleepless nights, frustrations and many other reasons to give up from many entrepreneurs including ones from my own family. But why does no one tend to realize these struggles. Is it because we are too blinded by the fame and success of others that we don’t realize that the starting entrepreneur probably gave it his all for his business?

We live in an era where the term “Self-Employment” has created a bigger impact than ever before.

But no one realizes what “Self-Employment” or being an entrepreneur really is, what they have overcome while trying to make their dream a reality.

Here’s a video I would like to show to conclude this post, it’s a 90-second video that gave me the perfect reason to write this, and gives the perfect example of a normal life of any entrepreneur.

The Life of an Entrepreneur in 90 Seconds by Patrick BetDavid

I do encourage all of you to watch this video, its the complete truth about being Self-Employed. If you’re not able to watch the video here is the visual version of it:

Most people only pay attention to the final product of a successful entrepreneur. They say things like, “ I can never be like them.” What most don’t see, is what they’ve overcome. All the struggles, the daily rejections, the heart aches, the betrayals, the rumors, the criticism, the empty bank account, and all those lonely nights while trying to make their vision a reality. You see the only difference between the one who quits and the one who doesn’t is that they showed up every day, they worked hard every day, they hustled every day, they learned from a proven mentor every day, they improved every day, They did all this even though they felt like quitting every day. And eventually, they became who they are today.

By Patrick BetDavid

If you are an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur-in-process- let me know what your struggle was!? or what was the most difficult part of starting off?! Maybe your struggle could help someone else in the process!