Entrepreneurship: The virus that can turn anyone into a zombie

You’re probably aware of the benefits of starting your own business by now. Almost everyone will say that this is part of their long-term plan if you ask.

Entrepreneurship and “hustling” are often promoted as ways to escape a 9-to-5 job.

Employees look up to business owners because they seem to be a different kind of person – richer, braver, and grittier.

Founders are shown to take a larger share of the business profits, and they have the freedom to work whenever and wherever they want. That’s the dream, right?

In reality, entrepreneurship is a bit over-glorified.

People tend to focus on a small number of successful businesses, which gives them a skewed view of what it’s like to run a small or medium-sized business. In fact, 60% of new businesses fail in the first 3 years.

Let me explain what happens.

Bitten by the entrepreneurship bug

Surprisingly, freedom and passion (rather than money) are the primary motivators of business starters.

More than half of small business owners start their own companies because they want to be their own bosses, according to research. They were also excited about the idea of creating something from scratch. Was this also your turning point?

Their drive could come from the jobs they had before (and frustration). The entrepreneurial bug could be a bad boss, a strict schedule, an unorganised way of doing things, or bad coworkers. 

No matter what it is, you believe and know that you deserve better.

The virus is spreading

For the founder, the first few months and years of a startup are exciting. There are so many possibilities, milestones, and wins. Yes, there are some losses here and there, but most of the time they are just part of life.

There are goals for the business, and you hustle hard to meet or even beat them. Because of that, you usually have to wear many hats, lose sleep (like zombies), and burn out.

By outsourcing some of the work, you try to stop the virus from spreading. 

But because there are so many bad freelancers and no plan, you end up wasting money on half-done work that can’t be used. Ultimately, you have no choice but to fix everything and take on more than you can handle.

Now that you’re hardly sleeping and starting to hate what you were once passionate about, you have officially turned.

Infecting everyone

Soon, you turn into an angry “zombie founder” because freelancers didn’t finish their work and clients are upset. Always snapping and growling at work, you let out your anger instead of coming up with solutions to the bigger problem.

Your clients can now tell that you’re giving in to pressure because the outputs are of poor quality. Bringing in new clients is out of the question because you’re too busy making sure the current ones are happy.

The ideal freedom is gone, and you’re trapped in a self-made hamster wheel. Yikes!

It gets worse, your children won’t look you in the eye and your partner gives you the cold shoulder. The ones you love – the reason why you’re working hard in the first place – hate what you’ve become.

The antidote

When you’re ready to quit, remember why you started in the first place.

Founders who are on the verge of giving up shouldn’t do it just yet. Don’t forget that your business is probably what puts food on your table right now.

To start, you only need regular “medication” to gradually cure yourself of the virus. Begin by delegating tasks. Deer Designer, for example, can take the burden of design work away from startup founders.

Because you get a design team, it’s the quickest and most cost-effective option. You don’t need to hire three separate people to handle administration, design, and quality assurance.

You’ll soon have enough brain space to recalibrate business plans, take time to breathe, and plan an exit strategy. Is it time to appoint an operations manager? Can a sales process be built that works by itself? Think about it.

The resurrection

Stepping back, entrepreneurs can reconnect to their why and be “human” again.

You can now refocus on growing the business and choosing who you want to work with as you get more sleep, free time, and a pipeline full of clients.

Maintain dependable partners who can scale as your company grows. This prevents you from regressing and becoming a zombie again.