When people see a successful business, they are only able to see the results. Many instantly think about how nice it must be to own a business and wish they had the same; however, many don’t understand what it took to get there. Stats show that “18.4% of private sector businesses in the U.S. fail within the first year. After five years, 49.7% have faltered, while after 10 years, 65.5% of businesses have failed.” (Gustafson, 2022). That means if you start a business the chances you succeed after five years are as good as a coin flip.
Okay, but what makes it so hard? Through the ownership of my business, Advert Logix, LLC, I can tell you first hand that in order to even withstand the game of entrepreneurship, you must have a strong mentality. But don’t take this from me, take it from Ricky Gutierrez, day trader and founder of Techbud Solutions, LLC, when he says, “I think anyone who has the entrepreneurial mindset is just wired a little differently than the average person.” This is simply because you have to be able to withstand hundreds, maybe even thousands of failures and rejections just to get one yes that changes everything.
In addition, many find entrepreneurship can be lonely. You may find that you have no one to talk to or relate to about what you go through on a daily basis. Some of the biggest challenges you may face as an entrepreneur may actually not be from the outside, but from the inside. Every single day, many entrepreneurs battle an internal struggle on whether or not their new idea will work, if they’re doing the right things, and if their business will be successful.
This daily grind and struggle actually leads many entrepreneurs to ‘burn out’, studies find that “a whopping 42% of all entrepreneurs report feeling burned out over the past year, a number that is expected only to grow” (Qayum, 2022). Furthermore, starting your business and building the right foundation is hard, but Alec Kaplan, the owner of Dart Bike and investment analyst at Citibank, argues that “keeping it going is just as hard, if not harder.” Although entrepreneurship is hard, it is important to remember that you can learn much from the experience, especially as a young adult, whether or not your business succeeds.
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People Interviewed
Alec Kaplan, Owner of Dart bike, Investment analyst at citi bank
Ricky Gutierrez, Owner of Techbud Solutions