Did you know that having a fear of public speaking can have a significant negative impact on your career? In fact, those who fear being a public speaker make 10% less on average than those who don’t.
If you spend your time browsing tech entrepreneur blogs and reading books about such titans like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, chances are you dream of being a tech entrepreneur yourself.
Of course, the reality is that most startup entrepreneurs will not go on to become rich celebrities. And reading every tech entrepreneur blog out there won’t change this.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t reach for the stars as an entrepreneur. Whatever your passion is, you should pursue it with all your heart to achieve the best that’s possible for your happiness.
But those are the critical key words: passion and happiness.
Like any automobile, a startup can’t run on fumes for very long. You’ve got to have lots of “gas in your tank” to keep your business going through the tough times: inspiration and passion. Those may sound like airy-fairy words, but if you’ve ever tried accomplishing the impossible, you know their importance.
Building a business, getting rich, and taking over the world take enormous energy and conviction. Not only must you legitimately love what you’re doing (or at least why you’re doing it), you must also be 100% convinced that you can succeed — and that it will be worth it.
Of course, there will always be those people who seem capable of pushing them through difficult times with nothing but their ego to drive them. But these are the exception, not the rule. So before you get up from reading tech entrepreneur blogs and books, ask yourself the following questions to better decide if tech entrepreneurship is really where you belong.
Do you have a passion?
Too many people who get into entrepreneurship have only one thing driving them: the desire to escape a job they hate. They feel like they’re trapped inside their cubicle, and they want out. The problem with these people is that they aren’t inspired by any particular product or service idea. Without a specific, tangible dream, they won’t be able to uncover what they do want.
Being a tech startup entrepreneur is like being a professional artist. You can be a hobbyist while you work your day job, but if you want to go full-time, you have to be completely dedicated to the dream. It’s not a backup plan or a job alternative. It’s a completely new, radical, no-holds-barred lifestyle. As Wayne Sermon from Imagine Dragons has said, “You don’t do music, unless you have to do music.”
If all you want is a steady paycheck that doesn’t require you to work the same awful job every day, then there are other ideas that will get you there faster. Investing or building a lifestyle business might both be effective means for getting your freedom.
If you want to be free, don’t become a tech entrepreneur. Like musicians, you only get into tech if you have to do tech: because you have a burning desire to make an idea a reality.
Can you handle the entrepreneurship lifestyle?
There are really only two qualifications for getting started as an entrepreneur. The first is having the passion. This will get you through any roadblock. The second is a willingness to put up with the discomfort.
Starting a business is hard, and tech business may be the hardest there is. That doesn’t mean it won’t be enjoyable. If it’s right for you, you’ll find it incredibly exciting. But it’s also incredibly taxing.
If you need streaming services, organic food, and featherbeds in order to feel comfortable, entrepreneurship is not for you. If you can deal with anything in pursuit of a dream, then it might be a good fit.
This is step one for how to become a tech entrepreneur. This should help you realize what’s right for you.
