The newspapers are filled with success stories of people who are receiving absurd amount of money from Angel Investors, Venture Capitalist, Banks and HNI’s. Reading these news items makes one feel as if we are not doing anything with our life or rather we are missing out on huge opportunities. The world is changing fast and the Gen Z is redefining everything – right from how we order our groceries to asking the plumber to come to our house. Keep in mind that the focus now is on sectors which were till now unorganized and none of the big names wanted to put their hand in the mud.

But, But, But, before you join the startup bandwagon you need to consider a few things I have learned from my experience as well as those who have taken the leap:

This journey is a hard, long and painful one. As in the Crooked Road, Sahil takes about a year to reach the deal of his life, but that one year was full of empty pockets, lunch at road side tea stall, and what not. Also, remember that The Crooked Road is a work of fiction and each journey is unique. You may take more than one year to reach there, and more importantly may still not get the deal of your life.



The journey is lonely. As Sahil discovered, even your best friends are reluctant to help you, not because they are bad people, but because they have other things on their priority list. You as an entrepreneur will have only one thing on your list to make money or achieve sales, your friends on the other hand have to worry about what they want to eat for dinner, how to deal with a cheating boyfriend/ girlfriend, marriage proposals and even playing with their dogs.



You need to be REALLY thick-skinned. Sahil gets rejected by so many people before he even gets a chance to display his website. Rejection usually hurts, it hurts even more when you have belief in yourself and your product. People will have ulterior motives, different priorities or may simply be disinterested in you and your product/ service. You have to keep your chin-up in the face of adversaries. 



Sales are difficult if not impossible. You may be convinced that your product/ service is the best in the world and people might even agree with you. But to get money out of someone else’s pocket is a whole different ballgame. In my opinion Sahil had it easy with the sponsorship he got. Imagine had he not got that sponsorship, how would he have survived for so long.



You need to be self-motivated, big time. There is no motivation to get up and go to work and as there is no monthly salary credit. You need to ensure that you have the disciple of working the requisite hours. No manager will tell you to complete a task on time, you are your own manager. You will have to get that urge within you to shrug off that complacency and get the work done. Also, there will be no one to guide you, one thing you will miss dearly.



You will be short of cash, for a long time – a really long time. Whatever little you will earn, you would reinvest in the business - marketing promotions, new products, business development, and what not. Say goodbye to those fancy restaurants, foreign holidays that your friend so regularly update on their Instagram and Facebook page.



You will be emotionally hurt. Entrepreneurship hurts your relationship. While you are nurturing your startup you tend to ignore your near and dear ones. You are busy updating your product, making your next sale all the while ignoring your support system.



You will hear snide remarks – you are a loser and a failure. This one will be the hardest in my opinion. You will start to self-doubt yourself. Like Sahil’s parents – you will be hounded by queries which question your ability. You will be constantly asked about the money you make – and some good souls would even offer you monetary help (the worst thing to happen to you).

Are you up for the challenge? Have you taken the leap of faith and joined the bandwagon? Share your experiences in the comments below.

To read more about Sahil's journey click here.

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