Staring Down the Abyss: the Reality of Entrepreneurship

I’ve been pondering the journey of entrepreneurship. And it’s really an amazing journey of Grit and endurance. The ultimate test. There is nothing in the world closer to alchemy. You are literally creating something from nothing.

And because of this, it’s bloody hard. It’ll push you to your mental and sometimes physical limits. Elon Musk was reported to have said “Starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss.” Wondering whether a customer will pay you, whether a credit card will clear or whether you will raise that round and miraculously make payroll.

The incredible stress that occurs when you question your own decisions, especially when the odds are against you, your family and friends are openly wondering why you didn’t just take that job or quit that high paying job at Google (or some other prestigious Fortune 500 company). Every day is a roller coaster, the highs are high and the lows are low. Sometimes they happen the same day.

This is something many investors don’t understand and many are not able to empathize with. This is why most people in the world can never understand this path. But the reality is that we are moving into a world where entrepreneurship is going to be the de facto route of not just thriving but surviving. Relying on a supposedly safe job at a safe company will be a risky path as our world economy will be bracketed by massive changes: technological, economical, demographically and probably most importantly, geopolitically.

We are entering a decentralized world where the world’s only Hyperpower, the United States, is declining and retreating inward. Read Peter Zeihan’s books and Radigan Carter (https://www.radigancarter.com) if you want to understand this point more. The result is that the globalized world order we have gotten used to over the last 70 years is coming to an end. The supply chain issues we are facing are just a symptom of this. And many companies are facing massive changes they are not able to cope with. The end result will always be massive layoffs from technology adoption and offshoring or reshoring.

This is a world where you have to take complete ownership of your future and decisions. A path that is not dependent on others and is not taught in school. Especially not in most Business schools, which are oriented toward creating corporate drones. We will be responsible for our own path whether we like it or not. The sooner we understand this the better off we will be.

This is why I focus so much on pushing the cult of entrepreneurship. Even if you have a good job, make sure you keep a low cost structure and invest your time in one or two or even three side hustles. Obviously not all at the same time but over time. This redundancy of income streams is critical. Additionally, treat yourself like a business: learn to invest your time and extra money into things that provide an ROI. Build assets. Learn new skills like the latest in online marketing or copywriting. Take classes which will give you a framework and ideas to start. I strongly recommend David Perells “Write of Passage” (https://writeofpassage.school) and Jose Rosado & Alejandro Corte’s “Wifi Money Machine (https://alexanderjacortes.gumroad.com/l/wifimoneymachine).

All these things will help you bear the storm that is coming for us over the next decade. And if I am wrong and there is no storm you will be far ahead of anyone else anyways.