Entrepreneurship is a personal growth engine

From the ever wise James Clear:

Entrepreneurship is a personal growth engine disguised as a business pursuit.

I've been involved in building companies for the past 8 years. But I've always worked under the wings of talented and brave founders that have put the flag into the ground and paved the way in front of me. Met with constant uncertainty and ever larger challenges to overcome, I was fascinated by the pace these founders grew both personally and professionally in front of my very eyes.

Only recently, in January of this year, have I taken the plunge (together with my business partner Kevin) and left the safe harbor of employment. So this time it was us paving the way into uncharted territory. And while I started this adventure under the pretense of wanting to be my own boss and of craving the freedom to decide on what and with whom I want to work with, I am starting to realize that there is more to entrepreneurship than just building a business.

If you make a mistake, there is nowhere to hide. If you are faced with a difficult decision, there is no one around to take it off your shoulders. Day in, day out, you uncover new things you didn't know you don't know.

You are vulnerable and out in the open. And yet, you prevail, you fail forward, you take that difficult decision, because you have to. Being your own captain forces you to learn and adapt on the fly. I can certainly still put off and procrastinate, but this time around I have skin in the game and it's me who has to face the blowback of my shortcomings.

The responsibility that comes with steering your own ship creates a perpetual learning process that doesn't let us off the hook on days that we just don't feel like it. We need to show up no matter what.

Taking ownership of that process and learning to love it, is what I think entrepreneurship is really about. And even though I am still a rookie at this, I think it's a rewarding and worthwhile path to follow. Because you can't really loose:

"I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me." - Jay-Z