One of the questions I’m asked most often is, “Are you happy all the time because you’re an entrepreneur?”
The mythology of entrepreneurialism is powerful. You “answer only to yourself,” “set the rules,” and “make your own decisions.” Or so the myth goes. The leap out of safe, corporate life seems so daunting; the assumption is that those who manage to make it over the line must live out their days in self-actualized bliss. More times than I can count, men and women, young and old, have cornered me to ask, “It must be great to be your own boss! Is it everything you ever dreamed it would be?” Thus far, I have had the decency and self-awareness to stop myself short of bursting out laughing. Because, as anyone who has founded a company understands, entrepreneurialism is more like a mental illness than a state of nirvana.