Here’s the deal with self employment philosophy. Everyone loves a good success story. Even more appealing is a quick success story. These get plastered all over and shared like wildfire on social media. We love these stories because they give us the sense that it can happen to us too, and brings out the self starter in us all.

But I want to tell you that this is by FAR the exception to the norm. While sometimes starting your own business is something you can dive into head first, more often than not you need to put a LOT of work in before even seriously considering starting.

Stories flood the airways with talk of atypical startup techniques, rapid growth “tricks”, and innovative “feedback loops.” This is not to discredit all the literature and talk revolving around modern startup businesses, because indeed, many theories or publications are based on real case studies.

However, this is only part of the picture, and is, by no means, the norm.

Very seldom do we hear about the harsh realities of self employment. And if we do, this topic is quickly touched on and then quickly shadowed by more grandiose and optimistic storytelling. The reality is, self employment, to any degree, requires a specific mindset, sacrifice, extreme discipline, self starter characteristics and personality, and boundary setting.

As with many things in life, if you don’t have a good foundation, your idea will crumble. It requires a dedicated, “traditional” approach to business foundation; things like a business plan, pro forma modeling, clearly defined shareholder agreements (if applicable), and proper legal counsel BEFORE execution are key to increasing the chances of success.

A self-starter attitude is important when deciding to venture into the world of business. But the new age idea of rapidly testing a lot of different things, scrapping the business plan, and building as you go is an exception to the norm. While these techniques may have been successful for some businesses some of the time, this haphazard approach is ultimately a greater liability for budding entrepreneurs.

It’s actually more complicated than it is a recipe for quick success. The fact of the matter is, taking life head on and choosing to provide for yourself on your own terms requires hard work. A lot of it. More than what is commonly talked about.

This is not meant to be discouraging. That’s not what we do here at Hundred Life. It’s meant to be a wake up call. It’s mean to show you that by focusing on the basics of business, your chances of success increase.

We live in a world where we constantly challenge the thinking of our previous generations, where anything conservative or “old school” is uncool. This is not true when it comes to self employment.

Your idea can and probably should be contemporary, modern, and “game changing,” but not the way your actually run your idea. Here at Hundred, we’re in the business of helping people make REAL measurable change, whether it be through channeling a self employment philosophy or anything else! And if that means taking it slow and steady so that change will last, so be it!