By | Stacey Alcorn | www.entrepreneur.com
There’s a haunting, scary, messy truth about being an entrepreneur. Those who dream about entrepreneurship think about the freedom of being able to chase big dreams, the thrill of building empires and the joy of making a mark on the world by doing something better than any other person in a field has yet done.
There’s something to all this. Entrepreneurship is indeed fun, rewarding and freeing. But there’s a dark side to entrepreneurship that nobody likes to talk about much. Being an entrepreneur can be grueling, spirit breaking and downright tough. I hope you have thick skin. You’ll need it. Here are the six scary truths of entrepreneurship:
Related: The Hard Truth of Entrepreneurship: You Will Suffer
1. You are not your own boss.
I wanted to be my own boss, just like millions of other entrepreneurs. What I soon learned was that great entrepreneurs are never the boss, except perhaps in title. There are more than 300 sales professionals and staff members at the company I own — and they are the bosses.
Awesome businesses are built by listening to the people who make the business entity run. Anytime one of my people calls me “the boss,” I quickly remind that individual that I am directed by my team. I am their employee, the one employee who has 300 bosses who help lead the ship.