The Entrepreneurship Phase No One Speaks Of

I am in a particularly unique phase of my life, one that I’ve seen few people ever speak about as it happens.

It is a time people recount over and over, for hours on podcasts and for pages in books. It is one of, if not the, most pivotal points in any aspirational persons’s life.

It is a time that in hindsight can be molded to inspire and motivate. It is the magic dust that dreams are made of.

It is the birthplace of authority from which people later speak, as though their insights are as solid as stone.

It is the true essence of endeavor, daring, and boldness.

What is this time I speak of?

Read it as a whisper - for in the present, that is all that it deserves:

The beginning…

No one speaks it’s name until it is a distant memory. It’s time in this world is one of near total secrecy. It is incredibly vulnerable, and therefore hidden away as much as possible.

It is a time of madness, of chaos. A life staked on something new, unproven, and unrealized.

Any word spoken of it before it has taken steps of its own are forbidden. The only words worth saying are the ones that make it grow.

But putting aside the rest of the world, as their time to observe it will come later - look at the protagonist.

The one who one day hopes some might call him a legend for what he is now a novice.

How is he in this time of his life?

Torn between heaven and hell.

You see, this is the kind of thing that one cannot do without the belief that one can do it. Not a faint, halfhearted rah rah - but a dead stare in the mirror, speaking right to yourself, and asking the only question.

Can I?

Let all the other details come, but in this moment -  only one answer must be heard.

Yes

Why then…

Why then do I feel the pull of terror, sheer and utter terror.

Fear - the deepest and darkest I have ever felt in my life.

How can that feel so near, when I truly believe?

It is a lesson as old as time, one that only the enlightened among us will ever know:

Our mind is not only ours alone.

There are others within - demons that pull us to our lowest form.

They speak the language of comfort, laziness, idleness, and fear.

How then to escape them on this most important quest?

It is enough to know that they will never leave, but that they can be denied every day with a simple action.

Choice

I don’t want to be afraid, I don’t want to endlessly worry.

I want to get to work, to keep pushing, and to one day be the podcast guest that’s earnestly asked, “How did it all come together for you?”, so I can utter the words with conviction:

“I started…”

But for now, in these most humble and early days, I leave you with the only true words there are:

I have begun.

Sincerely,

Jacob

P.S. If everyone you look up to says this is how it’s supposed to be, what more can we do than carry on?