Don't Be An Aspiring Entrepreneur (Day 71)

I had a phone call with one of my old buddies from school - Phil, a couple days back. He’s just quit his job again and is going to take his savings that he got from working a job and use it to hopefully build his business. This has been a cycle that he’s been in for maybe the last 3-5 years. Working day jobs (successful 6-figure day jobs) whilst he works on a side hustle that will become his main hustle. Different things have happened and over time he’s ultimately ended up returning to work. When he goes back to work I’ll not hear from him again. I mean, it’ll be months before I hear from him often, and admittedly I kind of forget about his journey until now and again (like now!) that I debate this question in my mind. Is Phil an aspiring entrepreneur or is he an actual ‘entrepreneur’ - I mean what really is the difference? Does success, and the ability to support yourself fully from your business pursuits have to be a necessity to class yourself as an entrepreneur? Furthermore, come to think of it -when you’re fundamentally running a pretty ordinary business (even if you’re running THAT business extraordinarily - not saying that I am) - does that make you an entrepreneur? Or rather a business owner? It all seems a little confusing in my mind, and unclear. However, the title of this post reads ‘don’t be an aspiring entrepreneur’ - with the implication being you should just be an ‘all-out entrepreneur’. I think, the fundamental that needs to be resolved here - is that you need to be all-out engaged in the activity of trying to breathe life into your business - whatever that business maybe. For someone like myself - there’s a cold reality to this - that at 34 years old, I need to make sure I can support my financial obligations otherwise entrepreneurship is a closed path to me. How is it that I try and support my financial obligations? It’s by running a very traditional 21st century business - something that’s extraordinarily common in today’s day and age - and that’s a marketing agency. Right now, digital is such a huge growth market - I won’t bother looking up the statistics. But I’d wager that it’s absolutely huge and Covid has only accelerated this growth. This is my ‘day job’ - this is my business that I’m growing. For me I don’t see it as entrepreneurial. However, in the same way that Phil has his day jobs of past and present - I have Pearl Lemon - which fortunately I’m passionate about - as my bread and butter business that is critical to my growth. And this is the business that will fund everything else that I attempt. Here’s the kicker with what I believe separates an entrepreneurial pursuit from an ambitious pursuit. That’s the ability that a business has to scale. Is Pearl Lemon scaleable? Well not really…. But with all of that being said - are there digital marketing agencies that do 8-figures? Yes there absolutely are - so is there the opportunity that I could do the same with Pearl Lemon? I suppose so.. Is it the way I think about Pearl Lemon? Given this narrative - I’d say probably not. So, then, when I think of Phil working on his startup currently and drawing from the savings of his job - I think about the actual title of this post. ‘Don’t be an aspiring entrepreneur’. I think the premise of the question is wrong. I think maybe even the question is wrong. Don’t be an aspiring entrepreneur? It sounds negative. It sounds like someone isn’t putting the effort in. However, I think that the bigger thing underneath this - is ‘don’t NOT try’. Don’t not try to chase a dream, or chase a goal or pursuit that’s bigger than yourself. Along the way you will face many many setbacks. I’ll give you an example of the setback I’m feeling in my mind right now; This is the time - 9.17am, and ordinarily I’d want to wake up at 430am and start working. Now here I am almost 5-hours later having now done any of the things that I wanted to do. I feel lethargic, sleepy, and devoid of energy. Today it takes great energy for me to write this blog at THIS time knowing that I’ve got clients who will be breathing down my neck. And up and until they stop breathing down my neck or rather I build a better management system for them - something I’m still working upon - that will continue to be the case. __________________ Why do I tell you this then? Well, when thinking of the people that are entrepreneurs, or the people that are successful anything… I think it’s about discipline, it’s about focus, it’s about a determination to never stop. Even when you stumble - even when you’ve gone backwards, and to find a way to keep moving forward. I had a hair transplant just over 2-weeks ago now - and since then my routine has fallen to the wayside. And being unable to exercise for the first month is like a nightmare for me. But I’m still trying, as best as I can, to drive forward - even whilst I feel the impact of the aftermath upon my routine. Notwithstanding the lockdown we’re in. So now I turn to Phil, and actually, whereas before I would have maybe told you to push harder - I salute you even moreso. Phil - I’m not sure you’ll ever read this - because the truth is we’ve never been that close - even though I wished we were that much closer. I know time will pass, months will pass, years will pass and we’ll speak just a couple of times a year. Time is a funny thing - as you get older, and things get more serious, and the biological clock runs down and the desire/expectation/need for having a settled family life and fortune grows.. Well time for pastimes dissipate. And in those moments, when you’re fighting the journey of an ASPIRING entrepreneur as you fight to make that next call, write that next blogpost, ascend to that next step. Well, conversations with old friends get further and fewer between. Time for pastimes diminish. It’s interesting what this blog has made me reflect upon. I no longer like the title, nor deem it to be a fit one. But it’s weighty heading is something I respect. To be an aspiring, or actual entrepreneur also means the giving up of one kind of life. You say goodbye to restful sleep, you say goodbye to total relaxation, and you celebrate your victories in brief moments of your day, and often in very short and sharp exchanges with friends and family… Before returning to the void again. Mark Cuban calls it ‘The Sport of Business’ - and I guess it’s just that. And that is the beauty of it. It is a lifelong game, there are no rules, and may the best man win. This makes it the deadliest sport of all. And if you’re 34 as I am, 14 as others will be, and 54 as many others are - actually - if you are still aspiring, and acting it out, then I’d call you inspiring. Afterall, the average successful startup founder is 45 years old. It is solely he who stands and does nothing that does not find his way through the storm of this life. Keep fighting my friend. Keep fighting Phil. I salute you silently, from afar.