Dear Entrepreneurs, don’t get too cocky about business 😮
We’ve all noticed the unfortunate trend of some entrepreneurs talking down others, usually based on having built a larger revenue company.
This is further evidenced by the “7-figure, 8-figure” self-promo titles, along with the multi-comma type awards and their fanboys.
This sort of egotistic comparison leaves thousands of small business owners feeling less worthy, or inferior to those who’ve scaled larger.
Time for some delicious humble pie. 😘
My book is titled “Side Hustle Millionaire” because I was the odd type of individual that was equally driven in my corporate success, at the same time as my entrepreneurship success.
For me, there was an overlap of 15 years of both careers being aggressively pursued. This allowed me to experience the pros/cons of both sides of employment and entrepreneurship, at a high level.
I was earning a salary of multiple 6-figures on an executive career path, while building businesses that earned millions… in my spare time.
In today’s entrepreneurship space, especially in the marketing and influencer gooroo ranks, people like to flex what they perceive as big revenue numbers or exit numbers, to assert their status.
Whether they are bragging about 10 million or 100 million, understand that these values are just day to day operational values in big corporate.
I’ve approved single purchase orders for 100 million. I’ve led technical bidding strategies that landed a billion in contracts… in one year. I managed international projects that had 4-5 million daily burn rates, operating 24/7.
Big corporate made me numb to dollar values, especially if someone is using them for marketing. I was responsible for executing at a very high level, without being emotional about dollar values. The right decision is still the right decision.
Quite honestly, that corporate experience and all the professional trainings I’ve received… made small business easier for me. It’s one of the reasons for my entrepreneurship successes.
Now, a separate debate could be made about entrepreneurs taking on personal risk, but that really only applies if you bootstrap your entire company without ever taking on partners, loans or investors.
Because as soon as you do that, others are sharing your risk. It’s no different than answering to shareholders or a board of directors, and the cost of failing remains the same; You’re left without income, and have to regroup and do something else.
My message is simple. Be humble and recognize that many others are playing at different levels. Don’t think you’re better at execution because you started a company, vs someone who went corporate.
Encourage those who wish to excel in either path. Don’t be a gatekeeper and talk down to them. I’m old enough to witness numerous examples of both entrepreneurs and corporate career people that started behind me, and took off to astounding levels.
I’m happy for all of them.