The Whole Truth About Being an Entrerpreneur

Posted on | January 24, 2012 | No Comments

Entrepreneurship has been trending across the world big time over the past year especially and it’s no different here in Jamaica and the Caribbean. The state of things economic, the job loss, the rise in the numbers of the skilled and self taught  independent worker plus  access to so many people and things online – has made starting a business both necessary and sexy. This is actually a good thing. It also helps us acknowledges the fact that the nature of work and doing business has changed forever, as the world goes through this period of adjusting itself, having closed off the industrial age to now embracing and creating the new rules of the Digital Age.

With this focus on startups,, entrepreneurs, incubators, funding…comes the stories – of the young, the funded, the game changer…the hype machine that champions the entrepreneurship movement by celebrating the “winners”. This  skews the big picture though, because if you read only tech blogs like techcrunch plus others business magazines, you would think it’s all coconuts with a pink hibiscus on top, because you rarely hear the full stories which includes the flops and the pivots that move companies forwards. This is actually not a good thing.

It’s important for us to know the whole truth…to read about the many startups that fail and gain the wisdom of the why, to hear from the mouth of entrepreneurs more rounded stories of their journeys – the ideas, the personality conflicts, sleepless night up with thoughts of risk, debt and doubt, the bruising from mentors, the rejection of customers, the sweetness of blowing past targets,the ideas that evolved, the dance when that first big cheque cleared from a customer or investor.

Why? because while we crave the success stories to keep us inspired, to encourage governments and investors to keep things the support growing,  we have to be real about both the warts and wonders of the journey.  Looked what happened when Disney and Hollywood sold us only on the “Happily Ever After” relationship story – over 50% divorce rates and in the Caribbean especially, more common law relationships with regular side orders of other men and women. Why? too many people believed that great relationships just happened to them, not knowing that they all had to work to make the magic happen and that along the way, while it can be alot of fun, their is some frustration too.

This is why for you who maybe thinking about starting up or are already on knee deep in it, I recommend watching the Foundation series by serial entrepreneur Kevin Rose and any video interviews of Rose himself. I enjoy his candidness. Have a read too of the blogs of  people like billionaire Marc Cuban and becoming a regular at Mixergy.com.   And when sharing your own “How I did it” story – keep it real and share it all.

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