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Our society craves instant gratification -- we want things
now and we want them fast. We are able to rent movies on demand, use our
smartphones to have a personal driver waiting outside within minutes and
Chipotle’s Twitter feed goes nuclear if someone has to wait in line for more
than a couple minutes to get their burrito.
Entrepreneurship is much cooler
than it was years ago, with entrepreneurs seen as modern-day rock stars. The thought of being an entrepreneur is
extremely appealing, which has led to an onslaught of products and courses with
names similar to:
- How to Earn Six-Figures in Six Weeks
- Build a Six-Figure Online Empire on Your
Laptop Working at the Beach
- Make Money 24/7 While Your Sleep With This
Automated System
- Become Your Own Boss and Make Millions by
Tomorrow
The truth is, entrepreneurship is
hard -- it’s hard as s**t.
There are no shortcuts or
magic formulas to make piles of cash appear in your bank account overnight. You
have to work ridiculously hard and anyone telling you different is trying to
sell you something.
So why are there so many
deceiving products and courses to lure in, and eventually disappoint, aspiring
entrepreneurs? It relates to the very first sentence in this article -- instant
gratification. Would there be excitement and interest for course and product
titles such as:
- Work Several Years for Little to No Pay
- How to Get 3 Hours of Sleep a Night
and Constantly Be Stressed
- Quit Your 9-5 Job and Work Twice as Hard
- Learn How to Secure a Non-Guaranteed Paycheck
Overnight
Those titles wouldn’t sell
because they wouldn’t excite anyone. Would entrepreneurship be a sexy topic if
there were stories published daily about all the failures and crushed dreams?
Not a chance. Instead, unicorn startups that receive billion-dollar pre-revenue
valuations are featured.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say
it again -- the truth about entrepreneurship isn’t mentioned nearly enough.
Entrepreneurs need to know it’s going to be hard and quick success is rare.
You have
to go in fully understanding failure is possible.
Entrepreneurs are brave
individuals -- knowing that there are no guarantees and putting it all on the
line takes guts. Without risk, there is no reward and I would go as far as to
say that you should embrace failure. You don’t want to expect it, but fully
understand that it’s a possibility and be committed to learn from it if
you do experience it.
You have
to be willing to put in the work.
While a lot of courses and
programs being sold promise minimal work, it just isn’t reality. Sure, there
are rare exceptions, but ask most successful entrepreneurs how their days
looked when they were just starting out and I'm willing to bet that they included
heading into the office before the sun was up and leaving well after it went
back down.
You have to be willing to work.
Everyone has the time, but not everyone is willing to dedicate it to building a
business. Gary Vaynerchuk said it best --
“Stop watching f***ing Lost …
if you want this. If you want bling bling. If you want to buy the Jets. If you
want to do s**t. Work. That’s how you get it.”
You have
to be willing to constantly learn.
A successful entrepreneur is
never done learning -- he or she is constantly looking to absorb information
and insight. Even with little to no free time, a successful entrepreneur is
making time to read books, network with
like-minded people and establish relationships with mentors and
influencers. There is no "off" switch, especially when it comes to
learning.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy,
but amazing things can happen when you understand that overnight success is
rare and you are ready to work your ass off.
.jfif)
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