The Not So Perfect Career of Entrepreneurship

Lately, becoming an entrepreneur has become an extremely appealing career choice. Nothing sounds better than working your own hours, being your own boss, and making gobs of money. We’ve all heard it on Instagram and YouTube where ‘extremely successful’ entrepreneurs try to share their get rich quick methods with you from inside their lamborghinis. However, the harsh reality is that the lifestyle of an entrepreneur is extremely glorified and is not nearly as amazing as it seems.

Nowadays, you often see people wanting to quit their jobs to become an entrepreneur for these reasons. Although, sometimes entrepreneurship shouldn’t even be a choice. In my opinion, the best entrepreneurs are the ones that could not help but to solve a problem they were experiencing in life, driving them into the career. There is a big difference between choosing a career for the glorious lifestyle and being drawn into one because of a burning passion — this can often be what separates the best entrepreneurs from the worst. Most people aren’t suited for the job, and that makes sense because most of the time it leads to an unhealthy lifestyle.

I don’t blame anyone for admiring entrepreneurship. In fact, a ton of the benefits advertised on social media are quite accurate. Working for someone else can be no fun, and most of the time it is nice working for yourself. Entrepreneurship allows the young to hold proficient job titles and you can make a lot of money from it. If you’d like some time off, as an entrepreneur you can offer that to yourself. There are tons of great things that come from entrepreneurship, but earning these benefits is not an easy job.

Here are a few of the negative things I have experienced as an entrepreneur. There are things that aren’t talked about much, and I feel as if people should be aware of them before starting a business.

Entrepreneurship takes a toll on your mental health. The first few years of my entrepreneurship career were not easy on my mental health. Luckily, over the years I have learned how to manage the stress that surfaces from my job. But, getting here was not easy. The main reason starting a business is so stressful is because you have no time off. Even when you’re not working, your business continues to occupy a large portion of your thoughts. As an entrepreneur you are constantly facing problems, and those problems don’t magically disappear when you’re not ‘on the job.’ This 24/7 stress can be unbearable at times and the truth is that it is one of the costs of being an entrepreneur. For me, going to bed became difficult because my brain became extremely active at night. For the business this was great because I was able to solve many problems while rolling around in bed trying to fall asleep, but for me it was terrible. On top of this, I had a hard time dealing with the fact that I was responsible for any mistakes made by the business and for any upset customers. When I started my business, I wanted to share something beautiful with the world and spread happiness, so when things went the other way around and customers were upset, I felt responsible for their aggravation. Although making your own decisions is exciting, if you f*ck up it’s hard not to blame yourself. Owning your mistakes and learning from them is a great way to manage this, but it’s a very hard lesson to learn. Sadly, at the start of any business there are more problems than there are rewards. As an entrepreneur you have to be prepared to be rewarded with very little. Unlike a 9 to 5 job where you’re handed a cheque every month as a reward for your time, as an entrepreneur you have no idea when and if you’ll ever be rewarded. Seeing so many problems can be very upsetting, and this can take a toll on your mental health. Many people think that being an entrepreneur is extremely rewarding, but the reality is that it’s often too hard to see the positives though all the negatives. No one sees colour in the dark, and for the most part, you’re in the dark. Lastly, entrepreneurship is very lonely. Similar to many others, for most of my time working on my business I was working alone. I didn’t want to spend my time with other people talking about my business problems, so I held most of it in. This eventually caught up to me and I became desperate to work with someone for the wrong reasons. I didn’t necessarily need help with the business, but instead someone to talk to. This was very confusing for me and the people I began to work with, and it all boiled down to the fact that I was lonely. Working on a startup with a team is great, but it doesn’t always happen right away and the times before this can be difficult. Before you become an entrepreneur, you have to be aware that it is mentally draining. To many, this may not be worth it, and it is an important factor that has to be considered before you start a business.

If you’re not working you’re losing. A business can be run at all times. Sometimes you are held back from certain delays, but for the most part there is always work that can be done. As an entrepreneur, for every minute that you are not working on your business, you’re falling behind. This is harsh but very true. Working on your business at all times is a terrible idea and will certainly ruin your life. Some entrepreneurs learn this the brutally hard way. As I mentioned earlier, I often work at the worst possible hours. Thinking of ideas while trying to sleep, replying to emails at social events, opening my computer in the middle of the night after dreaming up an idea, the list goes on. It’s something entrepreneurs can’t help doing, and it’s because if you don’t, your business may fall behind. It is very possible to develop an addiction to work, and entrepreneurs are prone to doing so. Entrepreneurship may be an appealing career, but being a workaholic sure is not. Working too much can have serious negative effects on your personal life, can ruin relationships and can greatly affect your health. As an entrepreneur, you sometimes just have to do work you don’t wana do at times you don’t wanna be working. Unfortunately, you have to sacrifice a lot of time to become an entrepreneur, and you may even experience these negative outcomes.

Entrepreneurship is a poor man’s/woman’s career. This may seem like a crazy statement, but I truly believe this for a few reasons. First off, let’s say that there are two individuals that are interested in starting a business. The first person has little money (but enough to get started) and the second has a stable income. I truly believe that the person with a stable income will have a much more difficult time starting a business. This has everything to do with risk. If you have a great job and a stable income, you risk all of that when starting a business. It’s much easier to start a business when you have little to lose. Secondly, although the Mark Zuck’s and Elon’s of the world are drowning in money, most entrepreneurs lose a lot of money when starting a business. Only a very slim percentage of the population can survive like this. Not to mention, most business cant survive without the capital it takes to keep them growing. If you have a family to support, rent to pay, or school debt, entrepreneurship is going to be very difficult. Although the long term reward may be appealing, you may never reach that point and you have to risk a whole lot just for a chance at it.

Let entrepreneurship choose you. If you’ve made it this far and you’d still like to become an entrepreneur, it may be because you are seriously passionate about something — and that’s great. If you have a great idea that’s worth the sacrifice, you may have a shot at a very successful career. If you’re ok with discomfort, you’d be happy to get gritty, you love to learn and you’re ok with the described risks, entrepreneurship may have already chosen you, and at this point, there’s no going back.