I was at the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp this past weekend. The beauty about being amongst people, majority of whom are in business is the brutally honest conversations we have amongst ourselves. Conversations about the process and yes, the agony that we go through many times. The kind of conversations that will not be highlighted in a lot of media because people are attracted to the cool looking end result e.g. the status, the lifestyle of the business owner, the car, the perceived influence and so on.
This article was inspired by a very honest comment from a gentleman I met at the boot camp called Caleb. Apparently there are several initiatives to make agribusiness more appealing to the youth by using celebrities who are not actually in agribusiness to endorse it. Caleb, who is in farming and has built his business from the ground up (pun intended), simply stated for all of us that there is nothing cool about farming. I could literally see everybody’s head in that audience nodding in agreement. That statement simply resonated with us. Many types of businesses were represented at this forum. However we all agreed that Entrepreneurship is not cool. At least not the way it has been touted. The end result for some may look cool. I met someone who owns a very cool brand of crisps. However when you hear the truth about what goes on in the background – suppliers, payments, sourcing potatoes, marketing- it is not that cool. So what’s not that cool about entrepreneurship?
I used to think that entrepreneurs are focused, fearless, and determined all the time. The truth is the opposite of this. We are confused, scared, and overwhelmed many times. On many days you will not want to get out of bed and that is ok. On some days you may actually not get out of bed because you are too afraid of what will face you if you do. It’s like you are constantly doing a dance between the motivated person and the scared person. You will want to throw in the towel because surely life cannot be this difficult and you cannot be that clueless about what to do about it. Then they are times when you do think you know what to do. You end up doing it to the best of your ability but the results you expected just do not show up. You feel like an absolute failure and want to stay in bed.
People talk about staying power for the long haul. Yes, it’s important, but we also need to start recognising the simple everyday showing up power. The grit it takes to show up when you don’t know how to get a client. When it’s payday, there’s no way salaries are forthcoming and you are bracing yourself again to sell the ‘vision’ to your team as a temporary measure. When you are not sure how you will have fuel/transport for the way back home. When KRA are waiting at your office to audit money you don’t have. Over time you realise that you don’t need to have all the answers perfectly. Your business just needs you to show up . Go to work, write that email, work on that proposal, and call that one person. Even if you have to cry on your desk at least you were there.
The other really uncool thing about business is money. For a very long time you simply don’t have it. And even when you do get it there’s a queue of things awaiting its arrival. And even if you do get to a relatively stable place with constant cashflow, there’s bound to be moments when you feel like you have gone back to a hand to mouth situation. Maybe the mouth became bigger. You don’t have money for all the nice things you thought entrepreneurs have. And you find you really underestimate how long and how much work it actually takes. If your entire objective is money, you will never have the staying or showing up power. Like some people have learnt, if you intended to use the label of business owner, to show how well you are doing, you are in for a rude shock. Then top it all off, you can’t go and hang out with people who are “cool”. The ones living it up and doing great things. You just won’t relate. The best thing is to look for not so cool people in not so cool circumstances like yourself who can understand this struggle for what it is. Those who have been there and you can talk the same language.
So despite it not being cool, why do we still do it? Definitely the description of what is cool changes when you are an entrepreneur (Click to Tweet this thought). Firstly, there are some very cool moments that make a lot of things worth it. The satisfaction in a customer. The relationships that are built. When you do something bold and audacious and it pays off. When a member of your team tells you how much they are growing or learning by just being in the environment you have created. The opportunity to create. To come up with a new product or service and see your customers respond to it or to simply innovate by delivering an existing product or service in a different way. Then there’s money. Its appearance may be sporadic at times, but you are in the driver’s seat of your income earning potential.
The second description is defined by what being in business does to you. You simply grow and become a different person. You grow as you surpass the challenges, as you realise they didn’t actually kill you. You discover passion and learn how to use it. You learn how to pat yourself on the back, and be OK even if you’re the only one doing it. You learn to ask for help, ideas, money, time and how to receive them. You also learn to deal with the word No and to use it when you have to. You learn how to be fulfilled and driven by pursuit of vision and not present circumstances. You learn the art of sleeping at night even when all boxes have not been checked. An entrepreneur wakes up and lives to write yet another story for that day.
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Waceke Nduati-Omanga runs programs on Personal Finance Management, Entrepreneurship and Career Success.
Find her at waceken@centonomy.com| twitter @CekeNduati| Facebook /CekeNduati