19 Reasons Entrepreneurship Sucks

Entrepreneurship sucks. Of course, it all depends on your perspective. Since I’ve been an entrepreneur pretty much all of my adult life — and even part of my non-adult life — I thought I’d share a few of the reasons why entrepreneurship sucks.

See if you agree with these.

1. Your income is entirely up to you.

You know that “steady paycheck” thing that people talk about?

It does not apply to you.

Sorry.

Here’s the thing. All over the world, working professionals are used to waking up, hitting snooze, driving to work, and collecting a paycheck whether they gave it their best, gave it their worst, or didn’t give a care at all.

But you? There’s no such thing as a steady paycheck. There’s just you vs. the marketplace, trying to make an impact, and worrying where your next dollar is going to come from.

But that’s the whole excitement.

Here’s why. The person who collects said paycheck has no control over whether that paycheck is bigger or smaller.

You, on the other hand? You get to decide. You can decide whether or not to scale up, improve marketing, hire help, launch another product line, or simply take a big vacation.

Like it or not, you get to decide how much you earn.

2. The odds are stacked against you.

According to statistics, most entrepreneurs will fail.

Source

The startup failure rate is staggering, regardless of industry.

Why do they fail? There are tons of reasons.

Source

But the basic idea is this. For some reason or another, most entrepreneurs will fail.

So if you want a really compelling reason as to why entrepreneurship sucks, look no further than your 90% chance of going belly-up.

3. Every single day is a freaking adventure.

I used to think that being a CIA operative was probably the world’s most exciting job.

Seriously, how badass is that?

Source

Then someone told me that CIA operatives do one of two things:  1) sit in a cubicle in a windowless office or 2) hide in a third-world country for months on end.

If you really want an exciting life, say hello to entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur allows you to experience absolute frothing-at-the-mouth excitement, off-the-wall enthusiasm, bone-crushing depression, cliffhanging worry, and intense anger — all in one day.

There’s no better way to get your adrenaline pumping.

But seriously, who wants to have adventure? A job is supposed to be boring, repetitive, predictable, and routine.

4. You don’t have a 401k.

Some people have a 401k. Other people have an empire-dominating, world-conquering plan to not need a 401k.

They’re called entrepreneurs.

That can suck or not, depending on how big your dreams are. For most entrepreneurs, their dreams are far bigger than the fattest 401k.

5. Your friends don’t understand you.

If your friends don’t understand you, you are either a social misfit or an entrepreneur. Or maybe you’re both.

Entrepreneurs tend to live a life of isolation. Why? Because not many people can understand why someone would take that level of risk and embrace that level of stress.

Tim Askew explains this loneliness in his poignant article for Inc.,

Friendships, for entrepreneurs, are hard. We're busy. Most of us have primary commitments to our families and homes in our little free time and we can't even keep up current friendships. Most of our human contact is within our own firms and it is simply not practicable to have real, open, intimate friendships with employees, even your top executives. Being a boss requires a certain distance.

Loneliness can be tough. And therefore, entrepreneurship can be tough, too.

6. You don’t have a retirement plan.

What’s going to happen to you when you’re 65 and facing your sunset years?

If you’re an entrepreneur right now, you probably don’t have a clue.

Maybe your business will be sitting on massive cash reserves, your personal net worth will be in the tens of billions, and you will have nothing but golf courses and margaritas to worry about.

But maybe it’s all going to come crashing down. Who knows?

7. You don’t get any paid time off.

Paid time off is something that most employees can enjoy. Even if they don’t take all their PTO, it’s at least there if they want it.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have to worry about what happens if they don’t work. They aren’t guaranteed a dime of income if they take time off.

This may seem like it sucks. But I suggest that entrepreneurs and company founders should take generous amounts of time off if they want to. It can be really good for you.

8. You have to set your own hours.

Does setting your own hours scare you? Most people would love to set their own hours, but generally what happens is binge-watching and late-rising.

Entrepreneurs realize that they have to put in the time and work hard in order to be successful. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs end up working much longer than they want to.

Turns out, setting your own hours might not be all that sexy after all.

9. Other people depend on you for a job.

Seriously, they depend on you for their next paycheck.

If that doesn’t keep you awake at night, I don’t know what will. Finding out that there are employees whose payroll you are responsible for is a pretty big deal.

10. You have to go deep into debt.

Where does all the money come from to start a company?

Answer:  You have to borrow it.

In other words, you’re in debt. You’re in debt to the bank. You’re in debt to your family. You’re in debt to investors. You’re in debt to the government.

Being in debt can be really uncomfortable. Until your company is successful — and remember, not many startups are — you’d better get used to being uncomfortable.

11. You have to work really (really) hard.

Entrepreneurs are a hard-working bunch. I know a lot of hard-working people, and most of them are entrepreneurs. They work hard because there is no other way to succeed.

This “hard work” isn’t just about the long hours and difficult work, however. It’s also about the emotional toll that hard work takes.

Jeff Haden explains it like this:

Entrepreneurship is hard, both physically and emotionally. Doubt, anxiety, despair--along the way, every entrepreneur struggles with those feelings.

12. You have to know how to do everything.

The entrepreneur is a jack-of-all-trades. He has to know marketing, SEO, growth hacking, online marketing, content marketing, sales, negotiation, funding, and everything in between.

That’s a lot of stuff to learn about, know about, and do.  

13. You live in a constant state of stress.

Welcome to stress, your new pet cat. You’ll feed it, pet it, coax it, care for it, and sometimes you’ll want to kick it, but you can’t.

Stress is your constant companion — a regular, gnawing, biting, draining presence that simply won’t go away.

14. You don’t know what free time is.

Entrepreneurs generally don’t have active social lives. They’re always working, toiling away on the next big move, major plan, or significant next step.

Most entrepreneurs don’t mind doing it, though, because they’re fueled by passion and driving towards an ultimate purpose.

15. You create your own business culture.

There are some companies that have a vibrant business culture. They have fantastic amenities, creative inspirations, and all kinds of amazing awesomeness.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t get to enjoy anyone else’s business culture. You have to form your own. And the culture that you create is going to play a very significant role in how your business performs in the market.

16. You expose yourself to public ridicule.

Wow, the haters! Brace yourself. When you become an entrepreneur, you will encounter the haters.

And the more successful you become, the more haters you will attract and the more they will hate.

Believe me, I’ve sent millions of emails. You think I get a few haters? I’ve written on some super controversial topics. Think some people don’t like that?

17. You don’t have a boss.

Nobody tells you what to do. This is kind of an insecure place to be in. You don’t have to obey anyone’s orders except your own.

Every day, you wake up and you get to decide what to do.

18. You do what you love. But then you kind of hate it.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably seen a lot of articles and advice about doing what you love. I’m a fan. I seriously think that everyone should do what they love.

But you’re also going to have to do a few things that you don’t love. Entrepreneurship is like that — a love/hate relationship with your passion. On the one hand, you are thrilled about the experience, but you’re also sort of terrified and sick of it at the same time.

It’s just one more thing that makes entrepreneurship terrible and wonderful simultaneously.

19. You’re obsessed.

Basically, entrepreneurs are obsessed. They are consumed by a single goal, a driving passion, and a relentless pursuit of success.

You can call them crazy, but you have to give them credit for being singlemindedly in pursuit of something that they truly believe in.

Conclusion

So, do you agree with these reasons why entrepreneurship sucks?

Maybe you have a different perspective.

Maybe you realize that all of these bad reasons to become an entrepreneur are also good reasons to become an entrepreneur.

Look at it this way. You’re going to take major risk in life whether or not you’re an entrepreneur.

Which is riskier — to stake all of your income, dreams, future, and financial potential on a company that you don’t control, or to take the situation into your own hands?

An entrepreneur creates her own future and doesn’t depend on the stars to align or other people to craft it for her.

As an entrepreneur, you define and create the future you want to live.

That, for me, is reason enough to embrace it, no matter how much it sucks.

What do you think? Does entrepreneurship suck for you?