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In my experience, a business doesn’t chug along for years at the same pace, predictably and sedately growing past a one-man operation. There is a point when the momentum, without much warning (and it doesn’t care whether you are ready) ramps up to full speed ahead.
Then, you find yourself as an entrepreneur under 30 years of age carrying multiple high rents and even higher payroll expenses. It happens so quickly that it’s like being underage and caught at a bar without a valid ID.
So what are the upsides and downsides that the entrepreneur should prepare for? There are many more positives than negatives. However, here is one of each to allow you to better prepare for when your business begins to speed up without asking your permission.
1 Clear-Cut Negative:
Mornings When You Don’t Want to Get Up – There are mornings when you are not going to want to wake up. The stress can weigh you down like cement shoes. It’s like an unexplainable hangover, but you didn’t drink the night prior.
Where does the stress come from? As a young entrepreneur under 30, nothing truly prepares you for being fiscally responsible for several employees who are paid solid salaries to compensate for their risk of working at a young company. You have bills coming from every direction, you have office rent and home rent or mortgage, and, if you’re anything like me, both of those carry “New York, NY” on their mail — and on their price tags.
New York, NY or Fargo, ND, running a young business is as heavy on accounts payable as it is on pride and excitement. While employees don’t have the say-so of a commercial enterprise, they also don’t have double rent, double phone bills, double everything.
Even more dizzying is the fact that a paycheck doesn’t exist. Nobody comes and hands you money at the week’s close. The only way to get dinner on your plate is to hunt.
At times, owning a business can feel like an uphill battle. Just riding the subway in the morning feels stressful, as you don’t know where your next dollar is coming from: you just know that you have to find it somewhere.
1 Clear-Cut Positive:
The Board Room and Company Dress Code – This is the most satisfying part of being an entrepreneur under 30 years of age. For me, the self-imposed boardroom dress code consists of designer jeans, designer t-shirts, multiple tattoos and luxury watches. You would think that 50 Cent is running the operation.
After all, any entrepreneur in his late 20’s or early 30’s grew up listening to Tupac Shakur and ripping SEGA characters’ heads off in Mortal Kombat. For a young entrepreneur under 30 years of age, the boardroom is like a trophy. It’s like a “#!$$ off!” to the corporate lifestyle and, moreover it serves as proof that there is a viable professional option beyond the cubicle life or being a road warrior.
