What Nobody Tells You About Entrepreneurship

This last year was my first year as an entrepreneur.

Or at least the first year that I attempted entrepreneurship. While I had started my own business, and was able to get a few clients early on, it certainly was not enough to sustain me. So I ended up doing a lot of contract and freelance work, but I was technically still working for myself.

Yes, I had someone telling me what my tasks were for the day and what needed to get done and how. However, I was basically choosing to work whatever hours I wanted, even though I pretty much worked a set schedule. Anyways, I was definitely working for myself. I did not have anyone, except for my bank account, telling when I could and could not take vacation time.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the first few months…

While in the beginning it was really nice to not have to go into an office everyday and deal with the same old nonsense and annoying coworkers and managers, I started to actually miss that mundane social interaction. Not having to sit through pointless meetings was amazing, until I was sitting at home alone on my couch for countless hours a day without leaving my house.

The days of slacking off behind my computer screen and complaining about being bored were also long gone. No more browsing vacations, online shopping, or planning my personal life on company time. Every moment became absolutely critical time that I needed to get things done. I was working my behind off each and every hour of the day to earn every dollar.

Even the novelty of being able to work from home in sweatpants, or from my bed, quickly wore off and I was left feeling a bit frumpy and out of touch with society. I actually got sick of working from home pretty fast and decided that I needed to go out and find other work spaces like coffee shops to avoid the distractions of working from home, like wanting to constantly clean my house.

Yes, saving time on my morning commute was definitely a big plus and not having to sit in frustrating traffic or on a crowded subway during rush hour was really nice. Also, being able to make myself lunches at home from whatever I wanted at any given moment was extremely convenient, that is, when I remembered to eat and did not work right through lunch.

Being able to sleep in on particular days was probably one of the major highlights for me. Or being able to book appointments midday without needing to ask for time off was great, I just had to ensure to plan my schedule in advance around those things. I always used to wonder what those people that could hit a gym class or grocery shop during the day did for work, and now I finally understood and was part of this exclusive club myself.

But those perks inevitably faded within the first few months…

Working for yourself is such a huge responsibility, and although it has become extremely glamourized through social media (#girlboss), not many people can do it successfully. I myself began to feel that maybe it was not the right path for me with the amount of stress I began to experience on a regular basis and the negative impact on my mental health. However, the thought of going back to a regular 9 to 5 office job made me want to vomit.

Mental health is a huge issue for entrepreneurs too.

I got to the point that I did not have a single day off and I started to feel resentful which made me acutely aware of the necessity to book time off for myself and not feel guilty about not working during that time. Because when you run your own business it can be very easy to get caught up in thinking about it 24/7, even when you are supposed to be relaxing. In addition, I found that I was seeing my friends and family less and less which was also a difficult pill to swallow watching people live their normal lives with weekends off. Therefore, the stress and frustration builds up even more to the point that you begin to experience anxiety, panic attacks, or the dreaded burnout.

And everything is certainly not sunshine and rainbows.

When things go wrong there is nobody else to rely on but yourself, which means you need to trust yourself enough to know that you have your own back. Because nobody is coming to save you. Yes, you can ask for support, but only from other entrepreneurs because your friends and family will not understand what this life is like. In fact, your friends and family will probably wonder at one point what you are doing with your life and encourage you to get a real job. And you will even seriously consider this option many times with things get particularly tough.

But yes, you can do it…

You will learn things about yourself you never knew before because you will have to do things you have never done before or never thought you would ever be able to do. You will experience more low lows and high highs than ever before which can easily turn into an emotional roller coaster. You will need to overcome yourself on a daily basis and break through your negative limiting beliefs or risk putting your business and livelihood at stake. And you will learn more than you could ever imagine from your failures, even though they will hurt a lot in the moment.

And guess what? The silver lining…

You will get through everything and it will be worth it. Yes, even tax season when you have absolutely no idea what you are doing and forgot to save extra money to cover that. Because you are driven, passionate, and motivated about what you are doing. You became an entrepreneur for a good reason. Most often because you wanted to have a positive impact on the world and do something that actually matters. Nobody else can possibly understand this but another entrepreneur.

If you take anything from this article…

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