All early stage entrepreneurs share the following experience:
- It is demoralizing coming out of a big organisation with a big brand and finding it hard to get meetings
- It is demoralizing not being able to sell stuff
- It is demoralizing not having a funnel of opportunity waiting in your inbox every day
- It is demoralizing being alone most of the time
- It is demoralizing when your initial revenue projections turn out to be fantasy
- It is demoralizing when your spouse starts questioning your judgement
- It is demoralizing when you don’t find success
In general, the life of an early-stage entrepreneur is demoralizing.
And low on cashflow.
And lonely.
Demoralising + low cashflow + lonely = The Struggle
The Struggle is the reason most people don’t succeed as entrepreneurs. There are other reasons too, but they only come after you’ve survived the first two years.
The biggest reason is that people can’t handle The Struggle.
They can’t motivate themselves to keep going in the face of rejection.
They can’t live on low cashflow.
They can’t be alone.
That’s why a simple life is important. And having a supportive spouse. And having a business partner that complements you.
Some people deal with the cashflow challenge by “selling hours” on the side to subsidise the time spent building the Empire.
It is very difficult having two hats at the same time: “Building Empire” hat and “Pay the bills” hat.
You will have a continuous fight between the hats.
Most of the time, cashflow wins the fight. In the absence of short term Empire wins, it is likely you’ll be dragged towards the “selling hours” hat.
You will find yourself putting more energy into short term financial security than long term financial freedom.
Nothing wrong with that, so long as you’re honest with yourself.
Remember: Very few great things were ever built without single-minded focus.
If your Empire dream is a great thing, you will at some point have to make the choice.
Can you endure The Struggle?