As a young entrepreneur, you must learn to sacrifice?

I was debating whether to tweet this or make in into a blog post, but i decided that 140 characters won’t do justice to what I intend to share. I have only just started work on my latest start-up and even I admit it is ridiculously time consuming. So time consuming that I can only check my email one time a day, that I can only manage to write two posts per week at best on this blog (it is currently 4:20 a.m and it is the only time I can write this piece, yet I have to be up in 3 hours to meet with a client). Anyway, my point is that in the middle of all this hard work, my missus decided to “take time off, because I didn’t have time for her.”

Typically I am not a man of emotions, I barely share my emotions with myself let alone a second party. I didn’t take her words to heart until I was done with my bit of work for the day. I sat back on the futon, sipped on a glass of soda and started to analyze the situation. By taking time off, she meant not seeing me and not having anything to do with me until a time of her choosing. But what have I done to deserve it?

Realistically, I barely tried to help the situation. I am completely bootstrapped as far as my start-up goes and I also have clients to satisfy, so it is hard to have time for extra curricular activities (that don’t involve sleep). I haven’t gone to the cinema in well over 4/5 months, I have not been to a diner in 8months and I don’t remember the last time I rang 1-800-flowers to put a smile on the face of the missus. I know I have not tried at all, but am I completely failing? am I failing to set priorities or manage time effectively?

As a young entrepreneur without the ‘million dollars’ or backing of a VC/ Angel investor, things are tough. I never have time to do anything! The girlfriend has never given me an ultimatum or anything like that (she really is one of a kind), but I can’t help but think: what if I had to choose between pursuing my dreams and domestic responsibilities a.k.a. the missus, what would I have done? Now that things have sort of ended on that front, I feel very let down. I feel like perhaps she should be supportive of my quest rather than “taking time off”.

As I sat there collecting my thoughts, my phone rang. It was my mate Dacosta. He is a legend in my opinion. He owns a number of bars and clubs in Liverpool, England and has only recently started a record label in Los Angeles. Yes anyone can own bars and start a record label, but if you are currently 24 years old and lived in foster care till you were 18 before breaking out to chase your dreams, without a family, then that is inspirational as far as I am concerned. He spent 5 minutes on the phone with me explaining how it is practically inevitable for entrepreneurs to sacrifice important bits of their lives in order to chase start-up dreams.  Now that I think about it, I realize I have given up quite a lot in my quest to build a successful brand and business.

I used to play soccer every single day! Now I am lucky if I kick the round leather once in 2 weeks. I used to enjoy just sitting with the missus having random discussions, I don’t remember the last time we did that. I used to enjoy spending my dollar bills on lovely clothes, Nike kicks, Liverpool jerseys, gifts for family an friends, e.t.c. but now I definitely haven’t even bought myself anything in like 7 months. All my funds have been designated to the business. I guess as young entrepreneurs, another important lesson we must learn is to sacrifice some things that are dear to us. I can’t help but wonder though, if I could go back and do things over, will I re-prioritize? As much as it hurts to be away from these things I have sacrificed,  I  don’t think I will want to put my passion on hold…even though I do wish the missus will read this and soften her stance. What are your thoughts on prioritizing and sacrificing as a young entrepreneur?

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Tagged as: entrepreneur, generation y, sacrifice, start-up