Business is hard as shit
written by Allan on April 27, 2012
A few days ago we hosted a casual dinner in Chicago for entrepreneurs. Some of the people that attended use our apps & some don't. I spoke to as many people as I could. Most of these business owners had questions about how we run & grow LessEverything. They seemed to be relieved to hear how much of a struggle LessEverything has been to build.
They were relieved… Relieved? Most business owners are questioning everything they do. I certainly do because I don't have all the right answers. When you hear other people talk about the stress and sometimes torment of running a business it's reassuring that others are in the same boat.
There seems to be an unwritten rule that as entrepreneurs we need to make growing a business appear easy, as if we have the right answer for everything. There are a lot of business owners that do this. Either they do have an easy time or they want to have this persona. Well I'm here to say growing a business is hard as hell. There are so many ups and so many downs. Steve and I question our decisions all the time, we make gut decisions and run with them. We make thoughtful decisions and hope for the best. We have to talk each other down or pump each other up as needed.
Please, when you look at us don't feel like we have all the answers. This adventure of LessEverything has not been easy. We've clawed and scratched our way into a profitable business and still worry about letting the people around us down.
Business is hard as shit and the people that make it look easy only make us doubt ourselves.
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Allan loves his family more than breathing. He lives in Panama City, Florida & grew up washing cars at his family's car washes. Oh and Allan hasn't worn underwear since 2004.
7 Comments
I think Chris Wanstrath said it best the other day, “Fake it ’til you make it.”
Yeah, it’s really, really hard to run a company – I fondly look back on the days of being a freelancer/employee. Lots of experimenting, dumb luck, barely having enough cashflow to pay the bills, and a lot of sweat and headaches have got me to where I am today.
I guess saying “hey this shit is hard” doesn’t sell as many books or generate many page views for TechCrunch.
It’s so refreshing to hear this. Keep up the awesome work!
So refreshingly honest and something so many people need to hear. I feel like everyone makes running a business sound easy! Thanks for being so candid.
Absolutely true that business is hard work. When I first started I would look at others and wonder what I was doing wrong to not grow as fast. Now, after talking to enough of those founders, I realize that most everyone is thinking the same thing as they’re working their ass off.
So true. So honest. But I’ll take the “hard as shit” knowledge I’ve gained starting a business over the money I wasted in school trying to pay for knowledge. Thanks for this real as shit article!
Stay awesome!
Yep. +1.
Very impressed with everyones comments! Fake it ’til you make it is sooo true. We opened our store…and I used empty boxes to give the illusion of products.. it still works…!! obviously we do have some. But business is hard as f*ck I usually say… !!