“People out here talking about owning a successful business like it’s as easy as owning a 🐶 puppy. “–Gary Vaynerhuck @garyvee
My father was an Entrepreneur.
Spoiler alert: the most valuable lesson I learned from my father is that entrepreneurship is not easy, and does not necessarily equate freedom.
Mind you, my dad was an entrepreneur back in the days way before social media, before email newsletters, blogs, and the internet. I don’t think that had any bearing on his success, or lack thereof. I should probably mention here that my dad was a terrible businessman, and his business was far from financially successful.
He busted his ass. I watched him operate a printing business from the basement of our family home and work 14, 16 hour days. He never took a vacation, he never took a day off. He took catnaps on the couch in our den in his work clothes for a half hour at a time, then go back downstairs and run his printing press. Lack of hustle was not one of his shortcomings.
He often dealt with clients who were slow payers, vendors who didn’t deliver, and ultimately, unscrupulous partners who took everything he built and then cut him out of the equation. These are things business owners deal with.
I asked him once why he quit a secure union job as a typesetter and pressman at a printing shop and instead devote his life to creating his own business and brand, and he said: “I didn’t want to have a boss.”
Maybe he didn’t do it “right”? I don’t know. He supported us, albeit modestly, and he was his own boss. Those were his goals, and he achieved them.
In spite of my dad’s struggle, I somehow got in my head that I wanted to own my own business.
I tried, and failed many times. I love failure: it’s generally the best teacher. We all know the quotes from Michael Jordan and Thomas Edison about failure.
I know how fucking hard it is to run your own business, because I watched my dad do it. I watched him take risks and crash and burn. I was the 14year old kid he put to work answering phones in the print shop he eventually opened. It was one of the best things he ever could have done for me, because it taught me that business is all about the value you actually give to consumers, not the value you claim to have.
So many people I know want to be entrepreneurs now. It’s such a departure from when I was young: in my youth, the dream was to get a job at a “good company”with a salary and benefits and retire with a pension: anyone who wanted to strike out on their own was viewed as a little foolish.
Today, those jobs are few and far between, Companies no longer take care of their employees. The unpaid internship was almost non-existent in my youth, and hourly jobs were usually just for teenagers working after school. Now everyone is an “independent contractor” with no health insurance, and if you live in a major city you’re likely to be working more than one job. No wonder we all gravitate to the “be your own boss” dream, in spite of the risk.
Of course, our rose-colored worldview and “good vibes only” society would never discourage you from starting your own business. But I will. I want to discourage you so you WILL succeed. I’m not gonna pat you on the back and say “way to go” when you build your Instagram following to over 1000 because that’s a bullshit indicator of success in business.
I’m not saying don’t leverage social media: I’m saying, don’t post a picture of your ass in yoga pants and sit back waiting for all your friends (and a few creepy strangers) to hit “like” and comment “gorgeous”; and maybe the occasional solicitation from an account to “feature” you on their IG as a free model or brand ambassador. If your goal is to get likes, stalkers and be a brand ambassador, then that’s awesome; but I don’t think that’s your goal, is it?
Do the work.
Get up early, even if you’re not a morning person (which I totally get). Do things that inspire you: meditate, run, play with your dog, read inspirational people.
Then do the work. Don’t talk about it, post about it, don’t take a picture of yourself with a caption about how you are thinking about the work: ACTUALLY DO IT. Create something of value that your target audience (and you have to know exactly who they are) will have no choice but to pay money for.
Here’s what Gary Vaynerchuck says about “entrepreneurs” (he’s been one of my inspirations for the last ten years): https://www.instagram.com/p/BmHbCc5nsdd/
What do you think of this post? Let me know!
LAURA REBECCA TEACHES YOGA 