The Entrepreneurship Trap — Why Most Businesses Fail

Entrepreneurship is one of the toughest jobs on this planet to earn money.

As an entrepreneur, you carry the financial risk and emotional burden with little to no known outcomes.

I can’t wrap my mind around the idea of why everyone wants to become an entrepreneur.

The problem is that most wantrepreneurs or self-claimed entrepreneurs get into business because they think it’s cool, trendy, or would make them rich.

There is a hype around the idea of entrepreneurship and how everyone must start a business and become a hustling entrepreneur; it’s lucrative for the people who promote it, but is it the right choice for everyone?

I have identified eight myths that you must realize before getting into entrepreneurship and starting a business.

8 Myths About Entrepreneurship and Starting a Business

1. Entrepreneurship is only about having great ideas

Entrepreneurship is not about finding and generating unproven ideas. There are plenty of creative ideas, yet most don’t make it to the market.

Entrepreneurship is about taking an idea and making it into a reality. It’s more of an execution skill rather than an exercise of brainstorming a bunch of unique ideas.

2. Entrepreneurship is about inventing new things

Entrepreneurship and inventing are two separate skills. An entrepreneur is an individual who finds a pain point in the market and then arranges resources such as money, people, and tools to come up with a solution and deliver it to the market.

An entrepreneur might rely on innovation, which is taking something that already exists and making it better and more effective; however, an inventor is someone who creates an entirely novel way of doing an activity.

Some inventors develop entrepreneurship skills; however, most rely on licensing their ideas or working with an existing business to bring their creations to the market.

3. Entrepreneurs have access to an enormous amount of capital

Most small business entrepreneurs will have little access to investment or loans because they are risky and have an unclear future.

Businesses with unicorn ideas, such as Uber and Airbnb, have enormous access to investment, talent, and media because they solve tremendous pain points in a vast market and have the potential for a massive financial return for the investors.

4. I can achieve success as an entrepreneur by myself

It depends on the scale of your business. You can start an idea or small business alone; however, if you want to scale your business and grow it into a multi-million dollar business, you will need the help and support of specialized teams.

5. Entrepreneurship will make me famous

Only a small portion of entrepreneurs make it into magazines’ covers; succeeding as an entrepreneur might get you some attention; however, being famous is not the primary goal of an entrepreneur.

6. If I’m an entrepreneur, I’m great at business

Entrepreneurship and business skills are two separate things. Most entrepreneurs operate from a place of energy, curiosity, and excitement.

Most successful entrepreneurs are great at starting an idea; however, they might lack the proper business and management skills for running the business, and that’s why they have to rely on others’ support and help.

7. Entrepreneurship will make me rich

Wealth results from a successful business outcome; most small businesses won’t be offered in the stock market or sold in a short time.

Being an entrepreneur will allow you to generate an opportunity and create products and services that deliver value to the market, bringing you financial wealth.

8. Entrepreneurship will give me freedom

True entrepreneurship requires consistent effort and work to improve one’s ideas and grow the business.

You can gain your ultimate freedom as an entrepreneur once you can build a systematic business that works without you and delegate most of your responsibilities to your team members.

The success mindset of entrepreneurship

Before getting excited about developing your idea into a business, let’s first slow down and look behind our major reasons and motivation for starting your new big venture.

Please go through the following questions and try to dig deep behind what you truly want; I encourage you to be direct and honest with yourself.

What is the primary reason for starting your business now?

Is it because:

• Did you find a valuable solution to a painful problem in the market?
• Do you love your family and want to secure them a prosperous future?
• Are you stressed financially and want an extra source of income?
• Do you dislike your current job and find it meaningless?
• Do you hate working for others and taking orders from your boss?
• Do you think starting a small business requires working four hours a week, and the rest of the time, you will lie down on the beach resting all day?
• Do you believe that starting a business will provide you with a consistent source of passive income?

If it isn’t because you found a valuable solution to a painful problem in the market, then please, I urge you not to start a business; instead, consider doing the following:

1. Find a better-paying job or freelance projects.

Starting a new business wouldn’t make you an enormous amount of income immediately; it takes a particular amount of effort, investment, and time to kick-start a project and generate profit.

2. Find a different job with an interesting and meaningful environment.

Starting a profitable business doesn’t mean that you will always find your work meaningful or interesting; You may be asked to do repetitive activities that provide specific results for your customers.

3. Find a different job with a modern and equal work structure.

Starting a business doesn’t guarantee you relaxation and freedom; you still have to take orders from clients and manage and satisfy your team’s requirements and suppliers’ demands.

However, if you believe that you have a solution for a problem in the marketplace, then welcome to the entrepreneurship club.

It’s easy to realize that most businesses fail and fall into the trap of entrepreneurship because they started with the wrong purpose; by now, that shouldn’t be you!