Stop Being Afraid Of Startup “Volatility”

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.” -Helen Keller

I’ve been talking with a lot of other startup founders during the Y Combinator application process. One of the persisting myths I’d like to deal with is the idea that startups are too volatile to make a living from, and that you should do it only on the side until you’re ready to make that big leap.

The oft-repeated advice has been, for a long time, that entrepreneurship and startups are volatile and lack steady income, while full-time work was how you established security and got a reliable source of income. Work is safe, startups are dangerous.

Here’s the thing: That’s never been the experience for me.

The economy was in a terrible position for newly minted graduates when I got my undergraduate degree. So-called entry-level jobs at established companies were (and still are) being scaled back or just eliminated altogether in favor of internships and mid-level positions.

For the first few months after I graduated, I was taking catch-as-can marketing and minor development jobs to get by, and I managed to develop a retainer business. I never had that “so-called” security of a full time job (but more on that in a minute).

I had toyed with the idea of expanding my business to bigger and better clients, but the work versus entrepreneurship dichotomy was reversed for me. As full time work applications were up in the air at best, I was getting paid for my consulting work and landing new business. Entrepreneurship actually became my safety net and my primary revenue stream. As I made more money entrepreneurship became the steadiest “career” I’ve ever had.

18 months after graduation, I received an offer from a highly competitive PR agency that had declined to interview me a year prior. By then, I was doing well enough that I turned them down. Not only was the “volatile” entrepreneurship a source to profitable work, but it actually opened up doors to full-time work, since I receive messages from recruiters on LinkedIn at least once a week now.

My point in writing this, if you’re considering a startup or applying to Y Combinator, is to encourage you to not be afraid of how volatile entrepreneurship is. Once upon a time full-time work may have been much steadier than it is now, but that’s not the case anymore. You can be let go or laid off without warning and through no fault of your own. There’s no real security in anything, no matter what your academic credentials and degree are.

Bringing this back to my story, entrepreneurship has become much more stable than any full-time offer. If I lose a client I take a hit and keep moving, but getting laid off destroys your primary revenue source, not to mention your benefits.

The tl;dr version is to go for what you really want to do and don’t be afraid of it. I’m not saying don’t stop looking for full-time work; lights need to stay on and food needs to stay in the fridge, but don’t shy away from startups because they lack security. Security is a pipe dream. Don’t give up on what you really want to do.