7 Things Nobody Tells You About Starting A Startup
Running a business is for the clinically insane!
Don’t let all the hype confuse you. Here’s a list of seven things that nobody will tell you about starting a business…
You will set million dollar ideas on the backburner.
Your entrepreneurial spirit will never die. You’ll have amazing business ideas on a daily basis. And you’ll resent the fact that you can’t start them all. They won’t get the attention they deserve. So you’ll end up giving them away to friends, family, and aspiring entrepreneurs. Or you’ll put million dollar ideas on the backburner, and over the years watch some of them become thriving startups led by other entrepreneurs.
You will feel bad when taking breaks.
You’ll work yourself to the brink of exhaustion trying to sustain growth. Then you’ll need to take a break to recover and refresh. But every minute of every day not being productive will make you feel bad. As you watch other entrepreneurs hustling day in and out, you’ll convince yourself you don’t need any breaks or vacations.
There will be no time for breaks.
No matter how much you want or need a break, you won’t have the time for it. You’ll fall behind on important tasks. Employees and assistants will remind you of the many things they need you for. Whenever you want a break, there will be more going on in your startup than ever before. You will have to fight and claw for the time to take breaks when you really need them.
You’re always one decision away from failure.
At some point you’ll start finding traction. Employees will be happy and productive. Financial projections will have investors and family cheering you on. You’ll be over the moon and optimistic about the future. But then you’ll read articles of one bad PR scandal ruining the best companies. And there will be a dark cloud forever looming over you. It will remind you every day that one bad partnership, one sexual harrasment claim, or one bad product launch can destroy everything you’ve built.
You will obsess over your personal brand.
You’ll wake up one day and notice everyone addresses you as the entrepreneur. Not just a entrepreneur, but the entrepreneur that helps hundreds of kids. Or maybe you’re the owner of an awesome app giving moms more free time. And then you’ll have a personal brand over night. You’ll overthink posting that round of shots at the bar with friends. You’ll spend nights trying to delete every commment from your social media that could even slightly offend moms, kids, or anyone. And you’ll forever be stuck tip-toeing around this personal brand and your true life.
You will obsess over your business brand.
The business will develop a life of its own. Your thoughts and feelings will be second to thoughts of the business. And you’ll find yourself debating with coworkers on, “what would your business do”. You can’t hire the people you like, but only someone that fits your startups brand. You can’t make purchases for anything that doesn’t fit the business brand. And you’ll find yourself tip-toeing around doing anything related to the business brand.
You will feel insecure about your product.
No matter how many compliments you get you’ll think about all the work you need to put into the product. You’ll spend months and years improving it. You’ll take feedback and make every feature your customers ask for. And even after your newest launch, you’ll go to sleep thinking how underpar your product is. Sometimes you’ll wonder why anyone ever paid you for your hackjob of a product.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. For the sake of not blowing up Medium, I have a full list of 45 things people don’t tell you about business over on my blog at EntrepreneurTim.com .
Thanks for reading!
