As much as I support entrepreneurs and small business owners, I never actually recommend people become entrepreneurs and SBOs. That’s mostly because I do not want people to walk this road who haven’t already made up their mind that they’re going to do it.

I don’t want to “sell the dream” because the reality isn’t so dreamy. It’s still so worth doing, but it’ll likely be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. You’ve got to build up a high tolerance for failures, rejections, setbacks, and uncertainty that spans from finances to where you live to how you make family decisions. You also have to learn to celebrate the real wins you have every day and finally figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. See also Entrepreneurship and Business-Owning Aren’t For Everyone.

The only other personal development experiences that come close to it is military leadership and parenthood. I say the latter speculatively as I don’t have kids.

And yet …

Once they’ve made that decision, I’m 100% behind them. To riff off of Drucker, “whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” In truth, that person has made myriad brave decisions, with the first being that they’re going to get on the crazy ride of entrepreneurship.

No one should feel pressured to get on this crazy ride, but once they’re in, they should feel the support of every other entrepreneur and business owner they meet. They’re going to need it, and we’re the only people who understand.