The Stories We're Told About Entrepreneurship
I absolutely LOVE working with women who are either thinking about starting their own business or who have just begun the process.
They tend to exude a sense of excitement, optimism and determination.
But it doesn’t take long for reality to settle in and for that initial exuberance to — shall we say — disappear.
Poof.
I can almost hear the moment it happens.
The emails they send me become a bit less cheery.
The smiley face emojis in texts turn to head-exploding emojis.
Conversations become less about strategy and more like cries for help.
And I understand it ALL. Because I’ve been exactly where they are. And, from time to time, I even go back to visit.
When it comes to starting a business, we’re often misled by fairy tales of how easy it is, how quickly the money will start pouring in, and how our lives will be so much better.
Discovering that we’ve been told a fairy tale about how simple and wonderful it is to become an entrepreneur can be a really tough pill to swallow. And the moment many newly-minted business owners realize this is the moment they say, “I’m out.”
Again, this is completely understandable. Who could blame them? Definitely not me.
Starting a new business is HARD.
Is it worth it? In my opinion, YES.
But, for others, not so much.
When I was first starting out as a freelance copywriter in the early 2000s, these things called “podcasts” didn’t exist. So, I didn’t have anyone in my ear telling me that, to build a successful business, all I needed to do was copy what they had done. The whole, “If I can do it, so can you” B.S.
Also, dial-up was still the way most of us connected to the internet. So, searching online for “how-to” information about starting a business was more trouble than it was worth. Plus, there weren’t a whole lot of business gurus online at that time.
Because email marketing wasn’t nearly as prominent then as it is now, my inbox wasn’t being flooded with messages touting get-rich-quick schemes. Instead, those came to my mailbox in the form of printed direct mail pieces or they appeared on television as late-night infomercials. (And, yes, I fell for one or two of those.)
Starting a new business almost 25 years ago was a very different process than it is now. I wasn’t being told stories that would have led me to believe starting a business would be easy. Instead, I expected to work really, really hard every day — including weekends — to get my freelance business up and running. I knew it would take time and a WHOLE lot of effort. (Spoiler alert: It did.)
If you’re either thinking about starting a business or in the early stages of setting things up, you’re most likely hearing variations of the following:
“With all of the new technologies we have available, starting a new business has never been easier…or faster!”
“I made 60 gazillion dollars from ONE email! In my new course, I’ll show you exactly what I did so that you can get the same result!”
Fairy Tale
Technology is making it easier and faster to start a new business today.
Truth Bomb
While technology is making starting a new business easier in some ways, it’s making it more complicated in others. For those who aren’t comfortable with these new technologies, there’s a HUGE learning curve for them to conquer. Not only does this slow things down for them, it also ramps up their level of frustration.
Fairy Tale
Building a successful business doesn’t take nearly as much time as you might think. If you spend just a few hours working on it a week — while also juggling your full-time job, kids, and all of the other demands of your life — you can have your business up and running and making TONS of money within a few months!
Truth Bomb
Maybe this can happen from time to time if you have a subscriber list that includes thousands of engaged followers who are eager to purchase anything you offer them — regardless of price. Most of us don’t have such a list — at least not yet. So, one email isn’t going to cut it. Instead, it’s going to take time to build an audience of loyal fans. People have to know you, like you and trust you before they’ll buy from you. And that process is a lengthy one.
Fairy Tale
If you have the right offer and the right message, you can bring in SO MUCH money by sending a single email to your list.
Truth Bomb
To be fair, having the right offer and the right message is VERY important when it comes to generating revenue. BUT it takes WAY more than those two things to make a sale. You first have to make a CONNECTION with your audience — one based on shared values, extreme empathy, and unfettered honesty. It’s only after you’ve made that connection that you can expect to make the sale.
The Story We NEED to be Hearing (and Telling) about Entrepreneurship
My grandmother became the owner of a women’s apparel store when she was in her early 60s. She had worked there as a store clerk for years and, when the owner decided to sell, she bought the business. (To give you an idea of how amazing this was, Grandmother bought the store in the 1960s.)
Watching her work from morning until night — managing a team of top-notch sales clerks, serving customers (who LOVED her), deciding which lines to carry each season, monitoring inventory, tracking the financials — the story I was being told was one of working hard, creating great experiences for customers, paying attention to even the smallest details, and showing up every day to ensure the success of the business.
Whether you have an online business, a brick-and-mortar business, or a hybrid —it doesn’t matter. Either way, the story we need to be hearing — and that we should also be telling ourselves — is this one:
Be a F*&King Trailblazer
Images in this post were generated by DALLE-E. How cool is that??
