Myth Buster: Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone

Somebody commented on one of my TikToks. He'd started his own solo business a couple years back, it's working, he's happy. Then he said "but it's not for everyone."

I'd been repeating that exact line for years and never once dug into it.

So this episode is two things. Why people still say entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, and why I think it's true about something almost nobody is actually doing.

When people hear "entrepreneur" they picture the same movie. Raise money, hire a team, sign a lease, bet the house. That version is brutal and it isn't for most people, me included. But in 2023 roughly 117,000 one-person businesses cleared a million dollars in revenue. No employees. No payroll. Nobody to manage.

The four myths I go after:

You need a business planYou need a website, a brand, an LLC, a logoYou need to be a salespersonIt's risky

That last one is backwards. Your corporate job is one customer providing one hundred percent of your income, and they can end it for reasons that have nothing to do with how good you are. Attach a W-2 to it and we call it stability.

The second half is the part I didn't get into in the LinkedIn article: finding clients is closer to a job search than to building a company. I've had seven or eight corporate roles and seven of them came from a referral or somebody in my network. Not one came from a blind posting. That's the same channel that brings in solo work.

I also walk through how I'd structure a first offer. Good, better, best, and why people almost always take the middle one.

In this episode:

Where the stereotype came from, and why it was true about a different thingThe four myths, one at a timeWhy corporate politics skills don't transfer, and why that's good newsYour job is one customer with one hundred percent concentrationThe interview and the discovery call are the same conversationGood, better, best, and pricing your first engagementOwning your own calendar, which took me longer than I want to admit

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