Entrepreneurship Is A Struggle If You Let It Be

Being an entrepreneur is a struggle if you let it be.

Entrepreneurship either shapes you into the person you need to be in order to carry a business, or it makes it very clear that entrepreneurship is not for you.

The conflict and stress that arises during difficult moments leaves behind only a few entrepreneurs that are still “game” to keep building their business.

During these difficult moments, it may feel lonely and isolating to continue on. It may also feel confusing to separate masochism from a struggle worth fighting for — when do you cross the line into entrepreneurial suffering that’s not necessary?

I’ve thought over this question so many times throughout my entrepreneurial journey — there have been times when I’ve given up and times when I fought through it. I’ve accidentally become an expert at understanding the difference as a result.

Here are 3 characteristics entrepreneurs cannot have or must change if they want to continue on during difficult times.

Quitting

I have a friend who was taught her whole life to quit whenever she was doing something she didn’t like. I found this extremely fascinating because I was taught the opposite, I was taught to never quit, even if I hated something.

As a kid, I longed for the days when I could spend my time only doing things I liked and was extremely jealous of the kids around me who could quit things at will.

Funny thing happened to my friend who was taught to quit — she got into the habit of quitting too soon for many decades and regretted it. She regretted never experiencing the struggle of sticking to something for several years.

Extremes are never good — although I wished fiercely for my friend’s reality growing up, I can also see how that mentality didn’t serve her once she got older.

The silver lining to this story is that I don’t think I would be an entrepreneur today if I didn’t have this never-quit mentality seared into my brain. It is what has kept me around startups for 14 years.

Entrepreneurship is not for those who quit easily. If you do quit easily, this is a characteristic you need to reverse quickly. You will be served difficult moments to quit on day 3 of being a business owner — the opportunities to quit start early and they don’t end.

Love For Control

Do you like having control over your environment? If people, places, or things are not acting the way that you want them to act, do you immediately find a way to correct the person or situation?

If so, you won’t have the satisfaction of that experience when you’re an entrepreneur — not if you want to grow your business.

In fact, the more you try to control your environment and business, the harder it’ll be to make money.

In order to build a sustainable business that scales and is able to make money even when you’re not involved, you have to let go of controlling everything.

You have to get comfortable with setting up systems and letting it do its work. You have to sit in your discomfort even when sales don’t come in a beautiful beginning-to-end-of-month cadence.

You have to let things run and not tinker with them even when they don’t deliver results right away.

In order for your business to work, you have to relinquish control and let the software and people that know what they’re doing work their magic.

Uncomfortable With Change

Is it hard for you to adjust to change? Do you avoid adopting anything new?

Do you find excuses and reasons why a new approach won’t work?

If you’re married to a way of doing things and find discomfort in trying anything new, you are self-sabotaging your business’ potential this way.

Growing your business requires you to experiment with new ideas when you want to scale. When external circumstances change or a marketing channel doesn’t work as well as it used to, you have to pivot and try something new.

Building a business is never about building the initial idea you showed up with, it’s about retaining the integrity of that initial idea while changing all the pieces that don’t work when you execute it.

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