Heaven . . . and Hell
Building a successful business from scratch is nothing short of amazing. Think about everything that needs to happen to start a business in today’s hypercompetitive world. Entrepreneurs have to do pretty much everything themselves—design logos, understand the law, find partners and employees, figure out the right product/service offering, analyze the market and competition, pray that there’s actually a need, convince their families that the years of sacrifice will be worth it, cobble together a plan, find a location, assemble marketing materials, and on . . . and on . . . and on. It never ends. Founders take on unproven ideas that will require them to devote years of their lives, on the hope and prayer that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. But you never know what will happen, and over half of all new businesses fail within the first five years. There’s only one thing that you can be certain of—your startup journey will be full of incredible highs and devastating lows. Land your first customer and life couldn’t be better, or miss payroll and it couldn’t be worse. All of this could happen in the same week. Being an entrepreneur is both heaven and hell. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s an amazing life if it’s the life for you.
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