Entrepreneurship: What You Thought Vs. What You Got

Poll any entrepreneur – new, old, successful, flailing, product-focused, service-focused, solo or with a team – and they will all say the same thing:

“What I thought, was definitely not what I got”, each one would scream in unison.

We’ve rounded up some of the commonest misconceptions and surprises about entrepreneurship for you below. The list may help you be better prepared for the journey.

What entrepreneurs thought, before launching their ventures:

1. “Money will start pouring in.” -Guess what, it only actually trickles!
2. “Customers would be clamoring for my product and I have to be prepared because my servers may crash.” -This is actually a great problem to have – alas it never happened.
3. “I can handle it alone.” -The reality is that no one can.
4. “I am in control.” -Nope, you’ll have to deal with the unforeseen everyday.
5. “Job satisfation is a given since I’ll be working on what I want.” -It’s not a guarantee.
6. “I’ll be an overnight success” -The definition of overnight can be 3,4,5 or more years!
7. “I’ll use all my knowledge from my Big company and MBA.” -My previous learnings weren’t really applicable.
8. “I’ll just get online and do some social media outreach to grow my company.”           -Digital marketing is a science and an art, not just a few posts slapped together.
9. “Cheap labor is great for my small budget.” -You get what you pay for.
10. “I’ll be ready to deliver in a week.” -It’s always at least 3x longer than anticipated.
11. “I’m launching my own business to be happy, not for money.” -Try being happy when your business isn’t sustainable.

Did we miss any in the list? Let us know “what you thought, and what you got” in the comments below!

[This post and comic were originally created by Kriti Vichare for #entrepreneurfail: Startup Success.]