Entrepreneurship is sexy. It’s glamorous; a surefire way to financial and social independence. If you replicate Sir Richard Branson’s morning routine or prioritize like Arianna Huffington, you’re halfway there! If you decide to make a go at the entrepreneurial road, there’s nothing but success at the end of the road. Oh! If only these sentiments were true. But alas, they are not. The fact of the matter is that being an entrepreneur is hard. It’s likely one of the hardest thing you will ever do, should you choose to accept the challenge. Know what entrepreneurship is? Entrepreneurship is scary. It’s a roller coaster of, yes, glorious highs but also terrifying lows. There will be self-doubt. There will be that “I’m not gonna make it” feeling. Entrepreneurship is no salary in the early days. It’s racking up personal credit card debt for both personal and business reasons. It’s late nights and early mornings. What’s more, entrepreneurship isn’t your area of expertise because of everything that comes with it. Entrepreneurship is finance. It’s accounting. It’s HR. It’s sales. It’s IT. It’s marketing. It’s R&D. It’s insurance. It’s vehicles and equipment. Entrepreneurship is a constant education. Need to lease space? You’re going to need to get familiar with commercial real estate. Need to build a staff? You’ve got to figure out interviewing and hiring—and they’re not as easy as you think. Need a vehicle? Better understand depreciation. Being an entrepreneur requires you to be a jack of all trades, which in itself, is no easy trade. Entrepreneurship is unsafe. “Why don’t you just get a nice desk job at a big company?” your friends will say. (Because it crushes your soul, you think behind a shoulder shrug response.) Entrepreneurship is taking red-eyes. It’s a weekend activity. Entrepreneurship is dragging your tablet into bed in the morning before anyone else is up. It’s mentoring, coaching, advising, grooming, promoting, reviewing, evaluating, disciplining, and even firing. It’s taking the bus when the train would be faster. Entrepreneurship is spec breakfast meetings and after-work drinks of which maybe five percent will ever result in bottom line impact. Entrepreneurship is spells of no one walking in the door. It’s a threatening hurricane that keeps customers at home. It’s fickle demand. Entrepreneurship is a crush of web traffic—certainly a good thing, but possibly overwhelming. Entrepreneurship is looking over your shoulder. It’s three failures for every one success. Entrepreneurship is a constant “Why’d that happen that way?” Entrepreneurship is exhausting. But you know what? This thing entrepreneurship? It’s intoxicating. For a small slice of the population, entrepreneurship est vitae essentia amor. (Latin. Look it up.) It’s an indefinable feeling. “Because I can’t imagine working for anyone else,” you say in response to the “Why are you on your own?” question. Being an entrepreneur is in your DNA—and you don’t care how much of a cliche that is. Entrepreneurship is the only way. So to the entrepreneurs of the world, many of which we are honored to call Kashoo customers, we say thank you. Thank you for following your passions. Admiration doesn’t even come close to what we feel for you. Go get today.
