If you want to become an “Entrepreneur”, You are “Wannapreneur”. You cannot just wake up one morning & decide to join MLM company & start calling yourself an Entrepreneur…
Being an Entrepreneur means, you have sacrificed , been humiliated , rejected & left behind but you still stand tall & pitch your product like it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
#1. People think you are crazy
After being an entrepreneur all my life. I have done every legal/illegal thing you can think of. ( I will let your imagination do the work ), but long story short:
In my High School Senior days, I had started a Magazine company & I would skip classes to go find sponsors.
My parents & every friend/relative i met would tell me how i was ruining my life by not focusing in school. In fact, One day, My dad hit me once telling me how disappointed he is with me when he found out that i had skipped school.
( I skipped 50 Classes in my senior year, you can only skip 10 maximum with excused slips. I faked doctors notes/phone number etc & got out of this )
I love my parents & i had to decide if i wanted to continue this….. i thought for 30 second and said “ ahhhhh f… this , i am doing it”
How did my Magazine turn out?
After 1 year of struggle, I published first copies:
Second year, I had celebs promoting it:
I was sponsoring teams in Dallas.
And few years later, I sold the magazine company & Also paid off one of my parent’s homes ( They own few ).
Was my dad happy with me? lol….. That’s another story for another day. If i hand him 1 billion dollar check someday, He will say “This is it? Bill Gates has more, you are poor”
Had i listened to my dad that day….
One of the things i do is, I listen to my family, but i don’t say a word. I say “ Yes… yeah… sure… of course” but go do my own thing.
Point of the whole story is that, people will judge you, they will mock you & try to bring you down. Listen to your guts.
#2. Rejections & Perseverance
In early days of my SaaS companies, I would wake up each morning, skip college classes to go make calls to businesses to pitch my product.
My day would start with people cussing at me and lots of Nos. I felt like giving up all this & finishing college to get a 9–5 Job but hustling, business runs in every cell in me.
I kept at it everyday……. Day in & out.
And one day in 2014, I didn’t even realize but we had 100k customers. That ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND people & I thought “ When did this happen”
The point i am making is that, If you want to achieve something in life… You have to do it day in and day out.
You cannot just do it for a week & think you will be a hit. That only happens in life.
#3. Humiliation & Sacrifice
In my college days, when i told my friends that i was working on my business. They would point at my Good Old Nissan Altima & say “ oh, you better give it up, you are not going anywhere”
Could i afford better cars at that time? Sure…. but i was spending that money into my business. I told myself, that i will buy a better car when i can afford 20 of them in cash.
Don’t let other humiliate you. They don’t understand what you are doing. Let your results speak for themselves, even if it takes years & years!
Point is, Being an entrepreneur is not easy but it’s the most fulfilling thing that you will do in your life.