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Life in a start-up is hard.
When I agreed to stay on in a sales office in 2003 for the woman opening business in a new location I was hesitant at best. And I wasn’t very good at it. In fact I quit less than a year later.
When I went back two years later (I wasn’t kidding, I really AM the poster child for Commitment-Phobia) it was to make a difference in an office. I had spent 18 too many months working for the corporate machine, and I needed to feel the freedom of 60-hour work weeks and thrill of losing sales and happiness of rejection.
Wait, what? Start-up life isn’t all sunshine and roses coming out your bottom? You mean you call them vomit moments because they aren’t always all that glamorous? But everyone writing about it online seems to tell these stories that lead you to believe you can just drop everything and whisk away to a new city or wake up one morning and decide to get out of bed on the LEFT side of the bed instead of the RIGHT and suddenly you are a multi-hundred dollar a month entrepreneur?!
The truth is start-up life and entrepreneurship is frickin’ hard! Someone once described it to me as drinking homemade wine, but finding out the crushers forgot to take their socks off. Sure, with certain dinners and chocolate cakes the taste is palpable if not kind of yummy (seriously, what ISN’T yummy with chocolate cake?) However there are other dishes you pair the sock-wine with that makes you want to spew Cabernet across the tablecloth.
You might have a great idea or be really good at a particular thing, but you know what? Skills are cheap, passion is priceless. Because when you are rolling pennies to buy ramen noodles, watching each hour slowly tick by on the evil little red light of your alarm clock because you can’t sleep trying to work out the PERFECT client transaction in your head, sitting in your office at 7:30 PM while all your friends are out at the monthly happy hour, it doesn’t matter how ept you are at something.
The people who succeed in these businesses, heck these lifestyles, have passion in everything they do. Passion is the only thing that gets you through it all, because you believe in what you are doing and are willing to sacrifice today for the life you want tomorrow. People like to think they can do that, but in reality very few will push through. Some have circumstances that lend themselves to few responsibilities and extreme risks. Others are planners/providers/obligated and have to move a little slower.
I’m in the latter category. I long to own my own business, to have the freedom and thrill and happiness of all the good and the bad of it all. But I can’t just ‘“do it” right now. I know myself, and it’s taken me awhile to get to the point where I did. I would seriously question every move I made if I did something that big without planning. People who depend on me would be left high and dry. Obligations (like those pesky loans that I hear you still have to pay even if you are trying to open your own business) will hang over my head.
But I work daily to improve my situation. To learn about start-ups and entrepreneurship. To hone my skills and craft. To build connections and networks and relationships. And above all to remind myself that I want this for myself passionately. So that when I’m up at 3AM eating ramen noodles wondering if my friends are up I’ll know that I made the right decision.
And that, my friends, is how I’m crushing it.
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Comments
10.07.09
Congrats on being featured AGAIN! :) You writing is amazing and captivating. You're like a David but in more serious level. I LOVE IT!
10.07.09
Elisa,
I'm really curious to know where you read that start-ups were easy and meant quick money. Can you please site your sources? Anyone with more than 20 seconds of experience as an entrepreneur would give a much more realistic impression, unless they are trying to scam you, and those scams are pretty transparent. Your title makes a catchy blog topic, but it really isn't much more than a headline.
10.08.09
Lauren, so am I to take from your comment that you did not like the post? Thanks for the feedback.
As for the start ups being easy, I'm a little confused because the entire thing was about how start-ups were NOT easy. I did in fact cite sources when asked, that's what those little link things are.
As for citing some sources that I feel make entrepreneurship and location independence look glamorous, I'd say off the top of my head Matt Chevuront (Life Without Pants,) Jamie Varon (Intersected/A Life in Transition,) Cody McKibbon (The Zero-Hour Work Week,) Colin Wright (Exhile LIfestyle)...I could go on with the young business leaders I read that live what are perceived to be the coolest lives ever. Jun Loayza also recently wrote about this topic on his blog Young Successful Entrepreneur (http://www.junloayza.com/entrepreneurship/why-i-cant-do-what-im-passiona...) and many of those folks chimed in to note that start-up life ISN'T all beauty and glamour, it's just sometimes that's the stuff you write about cause really who wants to write "I'm a failure" posts every day.
If I might offer some constructive feedback (since we now appear to be much better acquainted and you obviously know so much about me) I'm not sure what kind of life and career coaching you do (as it indicates here in your Brazen profile) but if I was your client I'd be horribly taken aback and frankly a bit hurt by your comment. Sticks and stones break bones and so do words. They probably should be used just as carefully.
10.09.09
Hi Elisa,
Just like contracts, I think blog interpretation latitude goes to the reader, not the writer.
To be perfectly fair, I think I had trouble getting your perspective because the overall message was overshadowed by your quirky and whimsical personality (and a cornucopia of analogies and links). I like that you have such gusto and verve for your blog, but after reading it through twice, I just didn't get your point. My apologies for only having limited time and imagination. (And I think I have an abundance of imagination.)
Let me clarify that I'm NOT A LIFE COACH. Why? Because I would suck royally at it, as you might agree. However, I'm a damn good job coach and resume writer. Perhaps my brain was stuck in "resume mode", meaning concise and to the point. My 'no wimps allowed' attitude may not work for everyone, but I really didn't think my comments were overly harsh. I'm sorry that I came off too strongly. As I stated before, latitude goes to the reader and in this case, that's you.
10.11.09
Um, thank you? I'm going to guess you are complimenting my quirky and whimsical personality, though it may not be the exact writing style and type of person you enjoy. Not sure why you are apologizing though...maybe you aren't really apologizing?
I would agree that latitude in interpretation goes to the reader, however latitude in explanation and defense would go to the writer. Why? Because if you are not allowed to explain and rebut an incorrect interpretation than MIS-interpretation is formed. Then judgments are formed and un-truths are perpetrated. For example my LATITUDE read the industry on your profile saying Career/Life Coach and ASSUMED something about you that was UNTRUE.
Without your discussion with me on the topic, I never would have been any the wiser. So I genuinely thank you for commenting.
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