This one cost of entrepreneurship is rarely discussed

Entrepreneurship is hard. I personally failed several times with my endeavors. This is why it’s hard.

• It requires dealing with a lot of uncertainty. Uncertainty can last for years. You yourself might be thick-skinned but if you have a family to support, it’s selfish and unrealistic to expect them to be comfortable with uncertainty. Entrepreneurship and family are often at odds.
• It requires perseverance. Perseverance is glamorized. We read many stories of how not quitting helped fulfill dreams. We don’t read stories about persevering not leading to anything but more pain and distress. No one writes such stories but they are numerous. It’s very hard to know when to quit and sometimes it’s the best decision.
• It’s super expensive. As I wrote in my other story, I don’t recommend going “all in” unless you have $250K in the bank.
• It’s full of questions that have no answers because every journey is unique and no book or motivational speech by a successful entrepreneur will provide guidance. For example, should you commit fully? I’m unable to resolve some of these dilemmas. Should an entrepreneur have plan B? Apparently, Arnold Schwarzenegger hates plan B (see this speech). You perform better when there is no safety net. It sounds inspiring but maybe Arnold should speak to my wife. She has a different opinion after going through the experience of living through my failures. Or, as I mentioned before, when should you quit?