Most of us start businesses because we want to be happier. We’re certain that when we are our own boss, we’ll finally have the creative freedom, autonomy, challenge, and meaning that we’ve been craving. We imagine our future selves working on our own terms, for something that we believe in (or at the very least are excited about). We dream about how this new professional reality will improve our personal lives, too — we’ll have the time and flexibility to exercise, to eat right, and to see our kids, friends, and spouses.
But the truth is, it’s astonishingly easy to be unsatisfied as an entrepreneur. Despite our best intentions, we endure a lot of stress, we get burned out, and most importantly, we stop having fun. We question our ventures and ourselves, and we may sometimes begin to think that entrepreneurship isn’t all it’s made out to be.
And this is where many of us give up trying. We don’t throw in the towel — we settle. We tell ourselves that we’d still be less happy working for someone else, and that this is as good as it’s going to get. (more…)