The Worst Reality of Entrepreneurship?The Feeling of Failing With 100% Responsibility.
You will never, ever feel Failing With 100% Responsibility as a “mere” employee. It’s hard there, too — but it’s not the same. If you aren’t the founders, and the business fails. You pick yourself up, and find another job. You move on. If as a non-founder, you fail at your individual job, that is rough. But the company can survive that. You move on.
But as a founder, every day you aren’t succeeding, you are failing. And you will feel it in your gut every moment of the day:
- From the moment you launch a product for real, but without customers, you will be failing. You will feel it every day.
- From the moment you have customers, but until you have enough to have a self-sustaining business, you will be failing. This is one of the most stressful phases of all.
- When you have a self-sustaining business, but you aren’t growing “fast enough” — you will be failing. And you have to shield the employees from a lot of this, yet also, push them to go harder and stronger.
- When you will never be No. 1 or No. 2 in a space, you are failing. You have to redefine who you are, somehow. Some way. No one wants to work at No. 6.
- When you can’t hire the VPs you need to scale. You are failing. No one can see this on a daily basis. But it weighs on you constantly.
The Highs are Higher, The Lowers are Lower. This is true. But it oversimplifies that a big part of the Lows is — Failing. The stress of failing. Even in seemingly big success stories.
MD - Axonlabs & Hurbz
8 年Entrepreneurship should not be about earning potential or just anything else related to monetary gains.. it is a serious responsibility to create than to consume. it is for our children, for next gen. if we view entrepreneurship in this perspective, there is no stress, no anxiety no pain, only a serious purpose.
CEO
8 年Absolutely. No one feels it like you do. There are only 2 options and if you aren't winning then....well you figure it out.
Chief Operating Officer
8 年Poetic sound bites!
CEO at Vanderhoof Photography /Entrepreneur Consulting/CREATOR of Int. Space Station/Visual Artist/Spirit Specialist
8 年well, you have a fixed Idea on the "FAIL" word.... in over a dozen businesses run over the decades and NEVER a FAT RICH CAT, I never wanted to be either, few people can match my knowledge, my maneuver abilities. I can re-direct myself fast. I can analyze a problem and change advertising, product, or market places in a heart beat.... Failure is a word, so is learning, however learning is an ACTION as well. "Failure" is just some other person comment and has not value beyond being a word. To refuse to learn is illogical, but given time even the dumbest learn.
Founder ICEBUY, President Asia Economic Forum, Speaker on Ancient Culture & Startup Investor - Open to Mentor Early Stage E-commerce & Marketplace Startups
8 年this is soooooo true