The Real Way to Be a Boss
THIS IS THE UN-FILTERED VERSION OF BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR
Because everything you see on social media is a lie. Nearly every "Beverly Hills self-made millionaire female entrepreneur" isn't self-made; they are either a poser (check their name and apartment address on Sunset, not their mansion in Brentwood/car leases/attachment to social media and instagram for fame and attention) or come from family money & don't work full-time jobs (for example: fashion blogging. Besides the one investment firm I've seen giving funding to fashion bloggers-lol- how are you affording the Celine bags that you are photographed with? According to Lipstick Alley, they are called 'sponsored'...just google it). Start-up success stories come from funding 99% of the time, where people don't have day jobs and have enough "family-and-friend" seed funding to be able to work full time on their start-ups, have relationships with other successful start-up entrepreneurs who come in and also help fund them, etc.
I am neither of these. I came from Cleveland, moved to Pittsburgh to be with my boyfriend-and-now-business-partner, and then dropped everything to move across the country to be in LA from a DREAM. I finished my MS at 23, dropped out of my doctoral program at Kent State University in Ex. Phys/Nutritional Biochemistry and started working so I could avoid accruing more student loans. I will go back and finish once I can write the University a check in full ;) I was doing alright at 25, but I always wanted more. I was never satisfied and wanted to do something so creative and niche, I just wanted to come up with an idea that was so.
Fast forward---> RenewU came into my head as I was travelling for business, at a hotel.
How does one start a start-up? I studied biochemistry, not entrepreneurship. I am passionate, intelligent (Tom says the thing he loves most about me is my brain :), and creative (I am also left-handed). I come from a technology background with design roots with obvious trained education and a lifestyle in fitness, corporate experience for 4 years in outside sales...so what do I do next? [deer in headlights]
We did not use a business incubator, however I was familiar with them (Launch House in Cleveland was a former client of mine, actually); I actually applied to Bizdom and never even got a call back (thanks but no thanks Dan Gilbert). It could have potentially helped us leaps and bounds but one will never know. I sold my BMW that I worked hard and paid for myself, I sold my Louboutin's and YSL's to make this coast-to-coast move. I was never handed anything in life! Right now Tom and I are sharing one car; he drops me off at my day job and picks me up. This is the REAL struggle of success called sacrifice.
I don't even get to work full-time for this business we moved across country to create, I still have a 10-hour-a-day job in an open office chained to a desk. Tom does RenewU stuff, I need to make money to pay the bills. We have asked for small amounts of money from immediate family to get the app up and running but besides that it has been fully funded by my salary and credit cards (terrible subject, I kind of want to throw up thinking about them). This is coming from the girl who used to be able to afford the hottest red-bottoms and Prada bags...let me tell you, I gave up getting blow outs once a week and being able to shop whenever I felt like buying something to hardly being able to afford food. We are eating ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese currently, and have been for quite some time (Costco!).
This is not a pity-post by any means, however; this is showing you the REAL GLAM OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND HOW YOU CAN DO IT. How much can you push yourself until you break? I break every day. I am an emotional wreck with the stress. We've met some shady people and some great people, and have been lucky enough to have some friends do some pro-bono work for us until we get funded (which hopefully will be within this quarter). Right now, we can't afford to pay people so I have toes dipped in so many glasses of water. I am still responsible for web design/development/working daily with app developers/graphic design/social media/marketing materials/contracts/legal matters/strategic partnerships/retail avenues/financial projections/budgets/VC+angel funding/presentations/pitches/setting up meetings/staff hiring/interns......ON TOP OF WORKING 50 HOURS A WEEK. I am at least partially if not fully involved in all of this, and I truthfully am beyond myself.
On top of this, I still do cardio every morning and lift about 4x a week. Diet? forget it. I barely eat, no time and protein is expensive lol.
I am hoping this gives you insight into the super un-glamourous lifestyle of being an entrepreneur and self-success. This is the REAL DEAL, and this is just based on how badly you want it.