The UGLY truth of entrepreneurship you don’t see.

This is the ugly truth of entrepreneurship you don’t see. March 26, 2016, I woke up and it looked like someone had punched me in both eyes. At the time, I was a solopreneur and I was putting a ton of pressure on myself. And, this was the first physical sign that what I was doing wasn’t healthy. But I ignored it. Entrepreneurship is glamorized, especially on social media. We see the perfectly manicured image of what it should be when in reality, the biggest success stories embrace imperfection and failure.

You’ve got to be willing to fail.

Because the losses are there to wake you up.

The first thing that can happen is, it doesn’t pan out the way that you envision it, but at least you know that by giving it a shot.

Awful lot of really big multi millionaires and billionaires who’ve been through two or three bankrupt companies in their lives, and I’ve learned from them and have come back the stronger.

I was naive. Putting that much pressure on myself was a recipe for disaster, because I didn’t realize that entrepreneurship is like an iceberg. It’s 99% of the work behind the scenes, under the surface, that yields the 1% of the reward that people actually see. The equation for a successful business is really simple. It’s solution plus demand. Create a good product or service that solves a problem or satisfies the need, get people to pay for the product to prove that it’s valuable, and then find more of those people to grow the business. The size of your audience, the fanciness of your camera equipment don’t matter to the long-term success of a business. It’s the testing and the 100 ideas that didn’t work that lead to the one that did. That’s a necessary part of the journey. The likes, the comments, the fancy clothes, the fancy cars, the praise from strangers online can make you feel successful, but it’s every time that you get knocked down and get back up, that actually makes you a success.

I remember being on the cover of a magazine, 30 Under 30. It was a big dream of mine for a long time. And when I got there, I felt nothing. And, I felt like I didn’t know what the hell I was doing or why I was even there, because all I was doing was what I thought I should. I was on autopilot. I was posting to social media every day. I was working 12 hours a day. I was saying yes to absolutely everything that came my way. I wasn’t asking for help. I didn’t want to be weak. I wanted to do it all by myself. I pushed through because if I was busy then I was working. If I was busy, then I was valuable. I pushed through until my body from my torso all the way up to my face was covered in painful red welts. I just kept working, because that’s what successful people do. They just keep working, until August 31st, 2017.

The pressure finally caught up with me and my body broke. The ambulance arrived. The paramedics came upstairs. And at 29 years old, I was being told that I was having all of the symptoms of a stroke. I was rushed to the hospital, put through a ton of tests, and it turned out to be a very severe case of burnout. That night changed everything. I realized that the highlight reel of social media, wasn’t real. And, I also wasn’t the first to go through this. And, I certainly wasn’t alone.

I collapsed from exhaustion.

I was as burned out as anyone could ever be.

The extreme pursuit of my entrepreneurial dreams almost destroyed me.

Sacrificing your health and relationships, dealing with self-doubt, comparison, critics, rejection, constantly trying to prove your worth. That’s the ugly truth of entrepreneurship. But I realized I could actually turn it into something beautiful.

My biggest issue was that I was constantly trying to be perfect, and the superpower was in the mistakes. Every obstacle I hit, every roadblock, every oops that I made, made me better and stronger. Because at the end of the day, an entrepreneur is someone who solves problems. So there were problems that I dealt with, the better I could serve people. And, it became less about trying to get other people to validate me. And, it became about how could I really help people. I want to give you $10,000.

Oh my God.

And, we are going to turn this into a home and you don’t have to think about it. You don’t have to worry about it. After burnout, I became obsessed with the most successful entrepreneurs. And what I realized is that they didn’t work all the time. They were laser-focused with their priorities and their time. They stayed in their genius zone.

They stayed in their lane, and they focused on the basics. Make a great product, constantly innovate, constantly test it, and be customer obsessed. And most importantly, embrace failure and joy.

The more I play, the freer my mind becomes. The more I play, the better I work.

Breathe. Enjoy it.

It’s no longer the goal, right? To be balanced. It’s just to have a full life.

Exactly.

They don’t define their worth based on the stuff they have or how busy they are. They define it based off of their contribution to the world, their quality of life, and the relationships that they built. I know that’s not as sexy as a Ferrari, but it’s the truth. The less time spent trying to impress people, the more time spent changing people’s lives, creating real impact. Do the work behind the scenes and let the results do the talking. From burnt out to an eight figure business owner, I redefined success on my own terms. Peace. And I designed a business that worked for me, not against me. Are you with me?