The Unglamorous Side of Entrepreneurship:
A Candid Look Behind the Scenes

Hello everyone,

Today, I want to delve into a topic that often gets buried under the glitz and glamour of entrepreneurial success storeys: the unglamorous side of entrepreneurship. It's a side few speak about but everyone experiences at some point on their journey.

Entrepreneurship is frequently portrayed as freedom to make your own choices, the allure of financial success, and the endless preaching of "dream big." However, the reality for many entrepreneurs could not be more different. If you are considering a career in entrepreneurship or are already in the thick of it, keep reading—you might find this perspective valuable.

First off, if you haven't met me before, welcome back to consecutive day 1620 of a diary of a Runpreneur. My mission revolves around saving children’s lives by attempting the ultimate ultra marathon of run vlogging consecutive days, barefoot style. If you resonate with this mission, please consider a subscribed, share, like or comment. Every bit helps spread the word and save more lives.

Now, back to the nitty-gritty of entrepreneurship. While people wax lyrical about entrepreneurship being a glamorous endeavour, it is often an intense grind. Believe me, it can be demoralising, challenging, and a roller coaster of emotions. It demands risk-taking and can even push you to the brink of putting everything on the line.

Here are three essential traits I believe every successful entrepreneur needs:

Communication: Probably the hardest to master, but essential.

Common Sense and Problem-Solving: These often go hand-in-hand and are critical.

Understanding Numbers: Without this, you'll struggle significantly in the business world.

Can these skills be learned? Yes, but they require time and experience. Communication, in particular, is a tough one to master. The other two, fortunately, can be honed more easily.

A real-life example of the unglamorous side of entrepreneurship recently hit home for me. We outgrew our banking facility, leading to restrictions on our accounts while undergoing compliance and security checks. Although I understand the necessity of these checks for safety, it was incredibly frustrating to deal with such red tape, especially when it affected our liquidity and ability to continue trading smoothly.

I found myself spending a full seven hours in a different bank, setting up a temporary facility so we could keep operations going. This experience was exceptionally stressful and laborious—but a problem that ultimately landed at my desk to solve. It's a stark reminder that, even with robust systems, processes, people, and data in place, some problems will always climb up to the founder level.

The lesson here? Entrepreneurship is often wrongly perceived. Yes, it can bring wealth, freedom, and the realisation of dreams, but it’s also a grind. It's stressful, overwhelming, and demands ungodly hours of work. You need to be all-in. And there's a stark reason why 90% of businesses fail—many jump into entrepreneurship thinking it's a quick route to easy money. The reality couldn't be more different.

But, and this is a significant but—if you've got the resilience, discipline, and problem-solving capabilities, if you can build and manage teams, systems, and data interfaces, then entrepreneurship can give you everything you've dreamed of—and more.

For those of you considering entrepreneurship, or perhaps struggling through its challenges, I hope this candid insight helps. Stay positive, stay happy, and if you believe in my mission of saving children’s lives through this ultra marathon journey, please give this a subscribed, share, like, or comment.

Thank you, and I hope to see you again tomorrow.

Kevin Brittain