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What Is So Hard About Entrepreneurship?

Kal-El1998

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Hey,

I am really wondering, what is so hard about entrepreneurship?

What did you really struggle with?

Was it getting started? Getting financed? Making the product? Selling it? Administrative tasks? Finding people to hire? Marketing? Was it figuring it out?

Was it the whole process? Was it finding an idea? Was it the volume of work? Or its actual complexity? Was it believing you would make it? Was it not giving up?

Please don't say it was everything. There must have been tasks that were harder than others.

I read Bezos and Branson biographies and these guys were working a lot, sure, but it's not like they were crying everyday on their way to the office, which is the feeling I get when people like Peter Thiel say "building a company is like eating broken glass while staring into the abyss".

Is it really everyone's experience?

PS: please don't try to discourage me, call me ignorant, gullible or anything else, or tell me "you'll see" in a condescending manner. I am asking a genuine question. I obviously don't know much, and so it would be great to hear from others that did this before me. Thank you : )
The toughest part for me so far is getting my mom to understand it. She sees me working all the time and wants me to take days off and stuff. But early on...you really can't / shouldn't take days off. I'm putting of the pleasure of today so I can be free tomorrow.
 
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Deleted50669

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Because it requires you to put other people's selfishness ahead of your own.

99% of the world is self-centered and focused on what they want -- it makes them blind to what other people want.

It is this reason, and this reason alone why "do what you love!" and "follow your passion" is so popular -- it allows you to backpack your selfish, hard-headed self-centeredness into the marketplace ... as if you could bend the universe and the marketplace to your will.

It also is probably the worst business advice anyone could follow simply because it is idealistic and introspective VS realistic and extrospective.
"Do what you love" => "Provide what they love"
"Follow your passion" => "Follow their pain"
 

WJK

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The toughest part for me so far is getting my mom to understand it. She sees me working all the time and wants me to take days off and stuff. But early on...you really can't / shouldn't take days off. I'm putting of the pleasure of today so I can be free tomorrow.
Give her a hug and tell her "I love you too." We moms are like that. We worry about our kids.
 

Kid

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I found an answer to this topic.

It's hard because people insist on doing things that doesn't work.

People are like:
Someone: I want to do x by doing y. How can i do that?
Everyone: You can't. Do a, b and c and you'll get there.
Someone: No, no, thanks i'd rather do y.

As i said, people insist on doing stupid things.
 
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Deleted78083

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I found an answer to this topic.

It's hard because people insist on doing things that doesn't work.

People are like:
Someone: I want to do x by doing y. How can i do that?
Everyone: You can't. Do a, b and c and you'll get there.
Someone: No, no, thanks i'd rather do y.

As i said, people insist on doing stupid things.

It's hard because people want to make events out of processes.

I have been thinking deeply about this and concluded that entrepreneurship is not hard.

It takes time and effort. It's a bit uncomfortable cuz you always look like an idiot at the beginning.

But it's not "hard". The "hard" part is that instead of working 8 hours a day 5 days a week, you end up doing 12 hours a day 7 days a week. To be honest I find it fun and fulfilling, but that's because I don't really have any other purposes in my life besides work.
 

Kid

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Well said @mon_fi !

To be honest I find it fun and fulfilling
This. I know that not every venture works out but at least one can feel fulfilled about time he spent. I don't think 9to5'ers go to home, look back in the evening and say "that was really good 8 hours".
 

raf

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I think this post is a bit poetic while trying to be too rational, but I think it explain why some things are very difficult to grasp, specially since a single person have to share multiple of the contradictory attributes:

 
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Deleted78083

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I think this post is a bit poetic while trying to be too rational, but I think it explain why some things are very difficult to grasp, specially since a single person have to share multiple of the contradictory attributes:

I agree, I was thinking about this yesterday.

Let's be honest, many entrepreneurs do it because of the potential to get money. It is a selfish desire while simultaneously, you have to remain extra focused on your customers and giving them what they want. Not what you want. Good entrepreneurs must be selfless...to achieve a selfish desire.

I will read this article, thanks.
 

Big Uncle

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Hardest part for me was knowing when to stick with an idea and when to drop it. You don't want to have shiny object syndrome and you may just be just a few steps from gold, at the same time, you may not be. It's hard working on something through the desert of desertion and you need to be able to believe in yourself to make it through. At the same time, you have to question am I a few feet away from gold or am I on the wrong path, that's the nagging question you'll have in the desert. I've had many failures, I am starting to see some success now, one of the big differences in my approach was the way I went about evaluating ideas for potential and stopped focusing so much on the idea and more on the need it served, could I reach the market and explain it, could I test something at a small scale, what would my CAC be, my ACV, can I support paid acquisition, is someone else doing something similar so I have some validation before I get started, etc. When I first started I thought if I build this they will come, that was naive. Each "failure" is a lesson. I would say the hardest part about entrepreneurship is persisting through the lessons without losing site of your end goal. If you can learn from books, that's great save some time, but some of the best advice is to just do it, figure it out along the way and when you're knocked down, get back up again.

Now that I have a business with sales, my problems are more technical in nature, related to scaling and evaluating new opportunities, but these are funner "problems" to have and the sales keep the motivations in check and reinforce I'm heading in the right direction. When you're starting out you have no sales, just an idea (maybe several) and a belief in yourself. Don't let the belief die.
Couldn't have said it better. I'm also at a point where my problems are now about scaling. It's fun!!!!
 

Jay_Young

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1. Adapting to an uncertain world
2. Keeping up with all the tasks (time-management)
3. Building a professional team with LOYAL and HONEST members
4.Staying focused on the goal

These are the most challenging aspects of being an entrepreneur for me.
 
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Deleted78083

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When in the slowlane, you are a crab in a bucket, with a bunch of other crabs. Every time you try to get out to reach the Fastlane, the other crabs are pulling you back into the bucket.

You need to be very clear to the other crabs that you want out. You keep on telling them it will work out, but they do not listen and want you to stay in the bucket. You need to harbor immense confidence about getting out, it is tough to do when everyone else is telling you you're wrong, that reaching out of the bucket is impossible.

It's like speaking a language they do not understand.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDU_Txk06tM&ab_channel=MonstercatInstinct
 

WJK

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For a reason it made me laugh - there are people who will search their whole life for a shortcut. From one shortcut promise to another.

If they would apply same perseverance into business they would be millionaires by now.
Yeah, they know how to do it -- although they've never tried it -- and they aren't gonna try it -- but, they know better than the guy out there on the front line...
 
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CPisHere

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Hey,

I am really wondering, what is so hard about entrepreneurship?

What did you really struggle with?

Was it getting started? Getting financed? Making the product? Selling it? Administrative tasks? Finding people to hire? Marketing? Was it figuring it out?

Was it the whole process? Was it finding an idea? Was it the volume of work? Or its actual complexity? Was it believing you would make it? Was it not giving up?

Please don't say it was everything. There must have been tasks that were harder than others.

I read Bezos and Branson biographies and these guys were working a lot, sure, but it's not like they were crying everyday on their way to the office, which is the feeling I get when people like Peter Thiel say "building a company is like eating broken glass while staring into the abyss".

Is it really everyone's experience?

PS: please don't try to discourage me, call me ignorant, gullible or anything else, or tell me "you'll see" in a condescending manner. I am asking a genuine question. I obviously don't know much, and so it would be great to hear from others that did this before me. Thank you : )
Entrepreneurship isn't so much HARD as it is DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE with massive UNCERTAINTY.

These things are more a function of how your mind works than reality - Bezos etc had comfort in (relative) certainty - they knew how the world works, how business works, and how to get where they were going.

If Elon Musk wanted to, he could come in and dominate any industry he set his eyes on (and also smart enough to only aim at an industry that had potential). He would know how to enter it, how to position himself, and how to grow it. Now yes he is smarter and harder working than most, but it's really just the understanding and mentality he brings to it that allows such success.

And that's what most people are missing.
 

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