Being an entrepreneur is like being Batman. Batman in my opinion is viewed in two constructs. The first one being someone who delivers justice to Gotham City being the individual who takes action into his own hands. However someone may view Batman as a criminal who is creating his own rules and disregards the social construct of government and education. Both constructs are debatable, however Bruce Wayne aka "Batman" path is very lonely and that's how I would describe being an entrepreneur.

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

Through the window of social media entrepreneurship has been put on a pedestal of leading to economical freedom. A lot of young individuals will mark "Entrepreneur" in their Instagram bios but when you ask them how they did it, they will never reply. Real entrepreneurship is high anxiety, self-doubt, and depression. To build a life on your terms means you are taking full responsibility of the positive and negatives that occur.

I am a 24 years-old Asian American who is the CEO of Faint Media. A digital media agency that uses the growing platform of the internet to grow new media. I work on average 16-18 hours a day running Faint Media and working in the autism spectrum. At a young age I had always been envious of people who were outgoing and could make new friends. I was this kid who wore purple sweat pants to school and this weird looking shark shirt. Most of my adolescent would be me dodging conversations and trying to "just get by" in life.

Between 2014-2015 going on my third year studying at Oregon State pursuing a degree in computer science and biology. I hated it. I failed a majority of my classes, there was absolutely no reason for me to get up in the morning except the fact that my hair felt greasy laying in bed all day. Doubting my ability to finish school I was in a place of embarrassment and enduring pain of waking up every morning.

2015-2017 my life would change dramatically when I recognized the path I was going down mentally may of lead to me taking my own life. I started spending time and admiring individuals that inhibited traits that I wanted in my own life. The Nat Chutipanyaporn, Juju Nguyen, Stephanie Chiu, Jenny Ho, Louis Nguyen, John Van, Daniel Trinhs of the world. I took a bit of those individuals and built it into the infrastructure of who I am and ultimately how I built Faint Media. At this time I also understood that the technology was the most important tool when it came to human awareness and communication.

To keep it short, I worked for free for a very long time between those years creating digital media content for companies. Eventually I had opportunities to meet with investors where I pitched the vision for Faint Media. Originally I wanted to be a restaurateur and I had all these plans being put into place until I got burnt out the whole path of being a chef/restaurateur. This was mainly due to the fact I understood technology/media more than I did food at that time. But if you watch the series "The People" I would combine my passion for both to bring something completely new to Portland.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman

The day I graduated I turned the switch on. I would push myself mentally and physically to the point where it became an addiction. I was so tunneled by my ambition that when I got there, there was no one on the other side for me. I had built a 53 employee company so quickly but I had sacrifice the delta of relationships that made me. I was happy but miserable at the same time.

I would find myself again working in the autism spectrum. It was a Undercover Boss experience where I had to listen to supervisors and people telling me what to do, which to me felt very uncomfortable. I became an entrepreneur in the first place because I wanted to live life on my terms. Parker and Natalie, I cant say their last name because i'm scared of a HIPPA violation. They were the Samwise Gamgee to me. I watched how they interacted with the kids and it showed to me a completely new light. It's an emotional job where you have to deploy so much empathy and patience. It taught me how fortunate we are in life. You may not drive a BMW or have the newest iPhone but at least you can count to twenty and can take yourself to the bathroom. That's a blessing in disguise.

So how does this whole analogy of Batman and being an entrepreneur fit together? Batman isn't driven by his ego or the need for fame, he burdens the responsibility upon himself to give Gotham City hope. We live in a world where violence seems normalized and society loves to tell us what we can and can't be. An entrepreneur endures pain over a duration of time in hope they can change the world for the better. Your actions define who you are at the end of the road, not money.