154 - What Nobody Tells You about Being An Entrepreneur

154 - What Nobody Tells You about Being An Entrepreneur
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to the MaYapinion podcast. I'm your host, Maya Raffler, and I give my unfiltered opinions about what I think about entrepreneurship for women here on my show, MaYapinion. So today, I'm gonna be talking about something I love to TikTok about and something I talk about all the time with women that are in my community and just in my groups and that I've worked with, and just honestly as I've worked my way through entrepreneurship.

I'm going to be talking about what nobody tells you about entrepreneurship. Because in my opinion, I think there's a lot that we don't talk about when becoming an entrepreneur. So what are the things, in my opinion, that I think are really important that we talk about that we don't talk about, about being an entrepreneur?

So for me, I [00:01:00] think a lot of people talk about, like, the flexibility and how much more money you can make and how amazing entrepreneurship is. And in my opinion, I think we've glamorized entrepreneurship so much, and I've been talking about that so much lately, and I just think that there is a lot of amazing things that come out of entrepreneurship.

And I do think so many of you are cut out to become a business owner, an entrepreneur, somebody that creates something that solves a solution and a problem for people out there. I know for me personally, it was definitely the right thing for me and the, and the calling for me. I don't think I could ever go back to a traditional nine-to-five.

Never say never in life, but for me, I... There's just something incredible about having an idea, thinking about it, thinking about how to solve a problem, and then executing [00:02:00] it and then seeing it help people's lives, whether it's, you know, from a nonprofit perspective and helping in that way, or it's from a product perspective where you created a product that makes day-to-day life easier, or if it's from a, y- you know, an aspect of a service, like I'm helping people with this service.

And I've done all of them, so it's, it's really cool and I, I enjoy it personally. But, you know, I think after 17, 18 years of being in the workforce and creating companies and being an entrepreneur in companies and, and then becoming an entrepreneur myself and creating businesses, there's just so many things I wanna talk about.

So the first thing I would say is entrepreneurship is lonely. It is lonely. People don't talk about this enough. They don't talk about it enough. Because here's the thing. Even if you have a great team of people You're not gonna have a great team of [00:03:00] people in the beginning. You have to build your team.

And when you are first thinking about your concept for your business and what problem you're solving and, and what you're doing, it's unlikely that you have the funds to hire other people. So it's you. It's you during those late night thoughts, waking up 2:00, 3:00 in the morning saying, "Oh my gosh," like, "This will make my product or service better," or, "Oh my gosh, I just had an idea."

Or you're the one with anxiety about different things and like, how am I gonna fund this or how am I going to take the leap? There's so ... Like, I could talk about this for a full episode. Maybe we'll do an episode on how lonely entrepreneurship is and how to kind of work through that, and that's why networking and finding other entrepreneurs that are really in the same boat as you are is really important.

That has been so important for me to have connections with people that really understand what I'm going through personally and like we can connect with each other and support each [00:04:00] other. And that's what I would tell you. But just a few examples of how lonely it is. For me, when I started my event business, I started consulting in 2017, but really went out on my own in 2020.

And it was, it was a little scary because I remember feeling like, okay, like I've only got a few clients that are taking a bet on me. This is, this is great, like this is what I wanna do, but Who do I talk to about this? And like, if it doesn't work, then I'm on my own and I have no safety net per se. And that was just really lonely.

And then you're also the one making all the decisions, so that can be scary in the beginning as well. And the lonely part I think is that. Like if you-- like you're not sitting in a boardroom and saying, "Okay guys, here's my idea. What do you think about it? What's your opinion about it?" Your opinion is really the only opinion that matters.

And if it, [00:05:00] if it succeeds, that's amazing. If it fails, it's all on you and that's a very lonely experience. And I feel like coming out of corporate situations, you know, you have some buffer, I mean, with different things. And I think for me, the reason I was able to navigate, just in my opinion, entrepreneurship quite well is because I was an intrapreneur.

I was creating programs inside of companies that people didn't often believe in. And now I can look back and recognize like, wow, that is why I think I was ready for rejection and being questioned and being told like, "Okay, that sounds great, but like, how is that gonna work?" And I can look back on my career and realize that now, but there's a loneliness about that.

There's a loneliness about making decisions all by yourself and knowing that if it-- like there's an excitement if you know it's going to... Like when it succeeds, you're like, "I did that. That's freaking awesome. I did that." [00:06:00] But when you fail, you did that too, and it's 100% on you. And you have to get-- that's why I always say you have to get comfortable with failing because you're going to fail.

Everybody fails a million, million times, and you're going to fail, and you have to be okay with that. But you also have to be okay, there's this other aspect of it, and this is the loneliness of entrepreneurship. You have to be okay with the fact that like you're failing on your own and it's all gonna fall on you.

It's not your team, it's not your admin, it's not, you know, somebody forgot to send an email. Nope, it's you. It's you, and you have to be okay with that. And it builds character and it's a lot of strength with that as well And I'm going through a lot of this again, just personally as I'm building my newest business, Find a Co-Host.

I am totally comfortable now with this not being my first business venture, being alone in it. But I also have this deep appreciation when somebody wants to listen to me talk about what's [00:07:00] working, what's not working. Like, I have such a deep connection with people. So I think just be aware of the loneliness, and if you're really uncomfortable not being a part of a team, you have to find your team, and you have to find people that are gonna support you in that.

And that's again, that's why I invite you to be a part of our communities, be a part of our Facebook group, be a part of my school community that I'm building. Like, find your people, and I hope it's our people. Find them because community is truly what helps in e- in anything that you're going through in life, and entrepreneurship is no exception.

It's, it's at the top. Like, you really need community. I'm a big community person. So I just think, you know, entrepreneurship is one of the few careers where, you know, you're expected to have all the answers, and you're not always gonna have all the answers, but you are the person that will get the answers.

So just remember that in the loneliness of it The other thing, I just kind of touched on this already, but the [00:08:00] second thing I would say is decision fatigue is so real. It is so real, and I wish somebody had told me this. I think this one, the loneliness I kind of already knew from my past entrepreneurship experience in companies, 'cause I was, felt like I was on a ledge on my own.

But this one, the decision fatigue, I remember when I first was kind of going 100% all in on owning my own business and saying, "I'm really doing this," and all decisions are on you at, at all times. I was comfortable with that, but I didn't realize the fatigue. And in my marriage it was, like, simple things like I didn't want to even pick what we were gonna eat for dinner.

I didn't even wanna pick what activity. I didn't even wanna... what we were gonna do that weekend. I didn't even wanna pick, um, like, what shows we were gonna watch. I am still that way, very much that way. In friendships and partnerships, I'm like, "I don't really care what we [00:09:00] do. Just decide, and I'll tell you yes or no," like, whether or not I wanna do that.

Because for me, I'm making a million decisions every single day in my businesses. And so just, I would just tell you, in my opinion, that- that's a big one. It's a really big one, decision fatigue. So don't be so hard on yourself and be like, "Oh my God, I had to go through, um, the drive through tonight and get k- get the kids a Happy Meal or whatever because I am so sick of making decisions.

I can't decide, and they all want 10 different things." Like, you know, just know that that's going to happen because it's just, it's really... Oh, it's a lot. It's a lot, and you have to think all the time about, like, okay, what's working? What's not working? Am I gonna, am I gonna use this platform or, or am I gonna use that platform?

How am I going to approach social media today? How am I going to send my email marketing out? How... Like, there's so many decisions that you're making in your [00:10:00] business that sometimes the day-to-day basic ones like when should I go food shopping or when should I go get my nails done or when should I... Like, basic stuff starts to get really fatiguing because you're making big decisions all the time, or things that feel like big decisions.

So, you know, I ultimately don't think that entrepreneurs, I've said this on my TikTok too, if you guys aren't following me, follow me at Maya Raffler. I think entrepreneurs don't necessarily have, like- a strategy problem always. Like they have a decision problem, 'cause they're fatigued. Like ultimately, I think you know your vision, I think you know what you wanna do and what you wanna achieve, and that can shift and change and evolve.

But I think we start to have decision problems because we're fatigued. So if you're having trouble making a, a decision, I would just tell you this too, take a step back and like take a [00:11:00] night off from it. Because oftentimes in the, the next morning I'll wake up and I'm like... And I'm not even a morning person, guys.

Not at all. And I'll wake up and I'll go, "I, I know what to do now. I know what to do." Or have a trusted person to talk it out with, and this goes back to the loneliness aspect of it. Get, get a entrepreneur buddy. And if you want it to be me, that's fine. Reach out to me. I want to connect. I wanna continue to build our MaYapinion community, where I share my opinions and you share yours.

That's what our community is evolving into. The next thing I would tell you is like white knight syndrome. Nobody's coming to save you There's no bo- there's no boss, there's no manager, there's no CEO.

Like, it's you. It's you. You are all of those people now. So I think the hard thing with this is, you know, when, when revenue is down or when, you know, the pipeline isn't looking so great, or when something isn't working, [00:12:00] guess what? It's on you. But the plus side is when things are working, like I said earlier, it, it, it's on you.

So that's the benefit of it. But I think this is sometimes w- we have white knight syndrome. Like, you know, someone's gonna save me, someone's gonna rescue me, or I just need this, or I just need that, or I just need one more client, or I just need... Like, the reality is it's consistent behaviors on a daily basis that drive our product, service, company, whatever it is that we founded as an entrepreneur.

That's what's going to drive us forward. And so just remember that, like no one's coming to help you. So you're constantly having to solve problems and solve solutions, and this goes right back to the decision fatigue situation that happens in my point two for this episode. So there's a reason why we feel the decision fatigue, because we're [00:13:00] also preemptively looking at problems that could be solved and things that could be solved.

So the reality is no one's coming to save you. But the freedom that you have as an entrepreneur and the autonomy that you have, and the beautiful things and incredible inspiring things that you can create, it's attached to the responsibility of the fact that most people don't want that responsibility, and they don't know that they don't want it until they experience it.

I have a couple friends that, uh, you know, work corporate jobs, and a lot of my friends do, and they're like, "I actually would never want that responsibility, Maya. I would never want the responsibility of like saving the company, or having to drive more revenue, or having to change marketing plans, or ch-" you know, fill in the blank for all of those things.

And I think there's... it's so refreshing that I have people in my life, and I know you guys do as well, that know that about themselves Because no one is coming to save the company, right? [00:14:00] Like, maybe you're an accountant in a business, or maybe you're a lawyer and you're in this- maybe you're in these businesses.

You're not an entrepreneur. You work with- in a business, and like you don't want that role. You don't want that responsibility, and that's totally fine. That's totally fine. But the reality is the freedom entrepreneurs want, it's attached to great responsibility. With great responsibility can also come great freedom, and that's just my opinion on that because I think some people think, oh, with great responsibility, like there's no freedom.

No, you have a lot of freedom. This is your company. This is your brand. This is what you're doing. Like, that's incredible. That's an amazing thing. So but it's a, it's a little bit of a trade-off. It's a little bit of a trade-off, which leads me into my fourth point The pressure is never fully gone. That's why I encourage entrepreneurs always, like take a full day off.

You deserve it. Take a full day off. Might mean that you check your email in [00:15:00] the morning, sure. I do it. I do it. I do it. It's not the healthiest thing, I get it, but sometimes we need to check for emergencies and things like that. I get it. But the pressure is always going to be there. Always going to be there, and you have to be comfortable with that.

You've got revenue coming in, not coming in. You've got clients coming in, not coming in, management of that, payroll, contracts, right? Meetings, things that you have to do, right? Responsibility is always there. That's why leading, you know, from no one's coming to save you, the responsibility conversation goes right into the pressure conversation.

You have to be able to handle pressure as an entrepreneur. You have to. You absolutely do, and I, I think this one, this one I think is talked about a little bit more maybe than the other ones that I've mentioned. Um, and I just think that You know, I, I'll use a couple examples for, for me. Like, when I first went out on my own with doing [00:16:00] contract work in 2017 and started doing events, there was this big realization that I wasn't a part of this team anymore.

I was, like, the whole event is on me. Everything. The budget, the platforms we pick, how we do ticketing, whether people are registered for the event or not. Do we pick the right venue? Am I in budget? Are, are people gonna show up? Are my staff gonna show up? You know, I f- I have less anxiety and less pressure about that now 'cause I have really good teams behind me now.

But these are all things, especially when you're building, in my opinion, I think these are really, really tough because y- that's when the self-doubt creeps in. You start to doubt yourself a little bit and you're like, "Oh my God," like, "am I really prepared? Am I really equipped for this?" Like, you... It's kind of in, a- again, in my opinion, it's kind of out of body.

You're like- I'm a big girl doing big girl things now, and someone's really relying a whole lot on me. I don't feel that way anymore. Um, you [00:17:00] know, six years, seven years under my belt of really going all in on, on my event business, I have full confidence. I have full confidence that while I feel the pressure, anything that's thrown at me I can fix.

Anything that's thrown at me I can remedy. Anything that's thrown at me I can make it through and make it work 100% because I've prepared. I've prepared for success. But that comes with time and experience. And n- I can't tell you how many events I've managed. Like things, you know, you go to events. Or if you plan events, maybe you're connecting with this episode.

But I'm just using my event experience for this because in every event something goes wrong, something happens. It's very, very similar to running a startup in general. That's why I think events resonate with a lot of people. They're like, "Oh yeah, I've thrown an event," or, "I've been to events," or, "Gosh, yeah, that sounds a lot like startup environment."

Something will always go wrong. It's about how are you gonna handle the pressure of it. Do [00:18:00] you stay cool, calm, and collected? Do you have solutions? Have you learned from the last time that you made m- made a mistake or something happened and you had to correct it? Maybe it wasn't on you, but it was on a partner or somebody that you were employing.

That's all on you. So the ability to handle pressure I think is such a superpower as an entrepreneur, and I think you should really, really embrace that. And empower yourself to also learn how to manage pressure. Because the more you learn how to manage pressure, the more powerful you're going to be as an entrepreneur.

And it's, it's one of the most incredible compliments I get from clients, not just now with my event business, but also with the other businesses that I have, Find a Co-Host, which you guys are all learning about now. I also host a surviving siblings community for bereaved siblings, and my podcast, and also working with incredible women just like [00:19:00] you.

Everyone always says, "Maya, you just seem so cool, calm, and collected." Look, it doesn't mean that I don't have anxiety sometimes at night. Doesn't mean that I don't have my days where I'm like, "Oh my God. All right, how am I gonna make all of this work?" It doesn't mean that, but I don't, don't let them see you sweat.

Handle, handle the pressure, and know how to solve problems before they even come up. It's a huge one. This is a big one. It's why I wanted to really touch on this at the end of the episode because I think it's just something you have to remember. Responsibility's always going to be there. The pressure's always going to be there.

How do you manage it? How do you relieve some of that pressure, give yourself some time away? And also anticipate things that, that could happen because that's gonna show that you're the real boss that I know you are. It's gonna show. It's gonna show that you can be an entrepreneur And I would say, like, my last and final thing I just wanna talk about in this brief kind of recap about what nobody tells you about being an entrepreneur and what nobody really talks about in being an entrepreneur is that [00:20:00] despite everything I, uh, that I've mentioned and things that we haven't even talked about on this episode, and I talk about a lot on TikTok as well, like, I would still choose this.

I would still choose the uncertainty, the pressure, the loneliness. Because ultimately, like, you still get to build something that's yours, and that's huge. And you get to solve problems for people, and you get to help people. And I find that empowering, and in my opinion, that's worth every single moment of the loneliness, the uncertainty, the decision fatigue, not really knowing, you know, what's next, how to solve these problems before they happen.

And, you know, also, no one's coming to save me, but that's cool because I can save myself, and I can save anything else that comes my way, and that's something that entrepreneurship has taught me and taking a bet on myself has really taught me. [00:21:00] And I think you owe it to yourself if you have been considering this to really dive in and do it.

And if you're an entrepreneur that is struggling with a business challenge, maybe you're, you're struggling with one of these things that I've talked about today. You know, whether it is the loneliness, whether it is the decision fatigue, the responsibility. Maybe it is the pressure that you're really struggling with or anything in between, I want to hear from you.

You guys can reach out to me. Like I mentioned, we have our free Facebook group. We have our Skool community, where we're creating and networking. This is all linked in the show notes. And cool thing that I'm doing now as well, if you have a business challenge, and you'd like my opinion on it, 'cause I'm giving you my opinions here on these episodes, submit it through the link.

So there's a link in the comments. Submit it. It's also linked on my TikTok. It's also linked on my Instagram, so make sure to follow us there as well. And I'll continue to help you guys [00:22:00] with your business challenges by giving my opinions, and get involved in our community so that you're not feeling that loneliness and all of these other challenges that nobody talks about in entrepreneurship.

So don't forget to follow us at May Opinion Podcast on Instagram, and then also follow us on TikTok at Maya Raffler, and then it's also My Opinion. And we'll see you guys back for the next episode, and I hope you enjoyed my opinions today on entrepreneurship