The Ugly Realities of a Business Startup

It’s going to take more than cowbell to cure the entrepreneurial fever spreading in B.C.

As entrepreneurial fever spreads throughout the land, some warning notes should be heard.

Everybody seems to be “doing it” today. In case you were thinking of something else, I’m talking about starting businesses.

Entrepreneurial fever is gripping the nation.

Thousands of people in Canada say they plan to start a business in the next couple of years. Many of them will be in B.C. and Alberta, which are the most entrepreneurial regions in the country. This is in part because they have no other choice (there just aren’t enough steady jobs in our cyclical industries,) but largely because they value the freedom they see in entrepreneurship.

There is certainly freedom in running an entrepreneurial business. But with it also comes hardship and danger.

Sometimes you have to treat entrepreneurial fever instead of letting it run wild. That’s where a recognition of the realities of entrepreneurship comes in.

As Dharmesh Shah, founder of Hubspot and operator of a blog called On Startups, points out, starting a business is no bed of roses. There are a lot of ugly truths involved. He lists 11, but I’ve picked out my three favorites:
 

Your First Iteration of an Idea Will Be Wrong

The first iteration or implementation of your idea will often be wrong. That’s not because you’re not smart, not doing the right things, or some other reason to come down hard on yourself. It’s because new ideas are usually half-formed and rarely make it past first interactions with customers. Those interactions provide feedback that helps you hone your concept to a sharp edge that will let you dominate a niche market. But if you can’t handle being wrong, then don’t get into it.
 

Starting A Business Is A Marathon

It takes time to build a business, much more than you probably realize in the first heady thrill of of designing it. Despite all the press about overnight successes, and people who got rich quick, the majority of startups remain so for a long time. So be prepared to work on it for many years.
 

You’ll Be Poor For A While

A hole in your bank account is not a reason to start a business. A sense of mission is. You may eventually make money by selling the business, or building it to a point where it provides a steady stream of cash. But generally entrepreneurship is about doing something you love. That’s how you get through the obstacles, the misalignments with customers and potential clients, the ongoing financing demands, and all the other  common disappointments of entrepreneurship.
 
And to those three I’ll add my one of my own:
 

You’re Going To Fail. A Lot.

You’ll have great ideas, and no one will care. You’ll want to do this, and everyone will want you to do that because it’s familiar. When you review your list of hopes and dreams at year end, there will be a lot more X’s than checkmarks. You’ll often be dispirited and sometimes miserable, but think of it as a learning process. Failure makes you stronger and more focused.