 Several years ago, a 13-year-old boy went to his father and said, Dad, I want to be a soldier. His dad looked at him and asked, Why do you want to be a soldier? Soldiers are highly respected, said the young boy. His father laughed and told him, Soldiers, go through hell too. When it comes to entrepreneurship these days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. You just have to check people's social media profiles and you see that even those who have never sold water in their life claim to be entrepreneurs simply because it's what I call a societal dream in the past. Being a banker, lawyer or doctor used to be a societal dream. Everyone envied those guys and wanted their children to be one of them because they seemed to be having more money. That craze ended with the 20th century. At the start of the 21st century, the world started noticing how young people moved from being ordinary to becoming rich celebrities just by building successful businesses. This coupled with the fact that almost everyone hates their jobs, entrepreneurship became the next big societal dream and everyone is being carried away by it. Now before you start a business, let me tell you a few things you seriously need someone to tell you. One, entrepreneurship isn't what you think it is. Most people are like the 13-year-old boy in my previous story. He usually sees the glory that follows warriors and he wanted that. He loved the accolades, the honor and the worship soldiers receive and he wanted just that. While he had a good ambition, his ambition wasn't well informed. This boy doesn't have any slight idea about the terrible pieces of training an average soldier goes through even before they ever carry the weapon. He doesn't have an idea about what facing death means and he had no idea that many soldiers die on the battlefield every day. If this boy knew all these facts, he probably would dream of something else except he truly has what he takes to be a soldier. Most people are like that boy when they want to be entrepreneurs. They only see a single side of entrepreneurship they love. The cars, the house, the vacations and the freedom. The problem of believing a single side of a story is that the other side is waiting for you to hurt you. So, am I here to discourage people from being entrepreneurs? Far from it, I am an entrepreneur and if I come back to life a thousand times, I'll still like to build businesses. So, I'll rather encourage anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur to do it but you have to do it with a full understanding of what you're getting into. The fast cars, the freedom, the vacations and the big flashy lifestyle is not worth it if you put them in perspective of what you have to go through to have them. Think about this. An average entrepreneur sacrifices a decade of his life in the wilderness of mistakes and failures before the world hears his name. 595,000 businesses fail every year. That's 60% of a million. Most businesses that are not bankrupt yet are simply there. They don't make any reasonable money. Trying to build a business is far more likely to ruin your life and make you poorer than make you the celebrity you envy. Business is tough, difficult and unpredictable, challenging and you had to put all these images together with the image of luxury you see everywhere because if you don't, you'll fail even before you start. Again, I am not discouraging you from starting a business but I want you to know what you're getting into because if you don't know what you're getting into, you'll mess up your life. When I was started in the business world in July of 2008, I didn't know exactly the kind of hell I'd have to go through but I knew it was going to be hot. Because of this understanding, I simply made up my mind to get it or die looking for it. I was willing to sacrifice 10 years of my life and I ended up sacrificing 8 years. Those 8 years are some of the worst in my life in some sense. Almost everything about my life was shattered. My most precious relationship was gone because everyone thought I was crazy. I became the poorest person among my friends as I moved from one failure to another. Today, I can tell you that no reasonable human being should go through what I went through simply because they want to have what I have today. Because I could have as well destroyed my life and nothing will be worth it. 2. The only reason to be an entrepreneur. While most people want to be an entrepreneur because of the fast cars, beautiful house and fame, I think the only two reasons why anyone should try and become an entrepreneur is if you have a cause or a life's mission to solve a particular problem which can as well give you money and if the reason why you want to do it is in line with your value. Let me try and explain these two points. You see, most successful entrepreneurs don't just wake up one morning and decide to start a business, only because they want to drive a Lamborghini or buy a mansion. Most often, businesses that succeed are businesses born out of anger. Someone is genuinely angry about something in the society and the world and he can't sleep a day without talking about it. So much that he felt that if he had to die to correct such a mess, it's worth it. At other times, someone just has a sense that he loves doing something. This sense of affection for a thing cannot be explained but it's real. I love writing and making any sacrifice to become a better writer is fun for me and getting paid as a writer is the greatest blessing I know anyone can have because who pays you to have fun. So here's what I'm saying in plain language. Money alone can't drive you to become successful entrepreneur. You have to look deeper than that. What are you angry about? What are you passionate about? What do you talk daily about? Those are your businesses and those are the only reasons you can have to start a business. Three, starting a business because of a job sucks. One famous reason why many people want to start a business is that their jobs suck. They see right in entrepreneurship what jobs doesn't offer but they don't see in a job what entrepreneurship lacks. This is what I mean. You can look at a successful entrepreneur and seeing him everything you want as an employee but you won't see what entrepreneurship lacks which jobs offer. Take for instance all of my mates who got a job in 2008 when I started my first business started getting paychecks within 30 days but I didn't make any money for eight years as an entrepreneur. Solve the math and see what it means. Most of my mates who got jobs only make one or two serious mistakes and experience maybe one or two failures because they are in a safe zone. I am not in a safe zone. I make mistakes and experience terrible failures all the time. Do the math and see what you get. But most of my mates who the company they work for has a problem they just have to go out and look for another job. For me I think about 18 people I have to pay every month and if that business has any reasonable problem I'm in the building that collapsed and will be brutally injured. Here's the summary of this video. First don't be like that little boy who wants to be a soldier because he thinks the military gives you glory. If you want to be an entrepreneur you have to sit down and count your costs first. You have to make up your mind to fight hard and go through hell because you'll have many hells on your way and if you're not prepared for them they will consume you. The second thing I want to communicate through this video is not everyone should be an entrepreneur. Believe me the fast cars and the millions aren't worth the fires you have to endure to have them. The only reason to be an entrepreneur is if you enjoy trouble, tribulation and woe. If you somehow know how to smile inside the fire then you'll be fine as an entrepreneur. I think this video should help someone but if you think I'm stupid just unsubscribe and go start your business without preparing for the war involved. We love you.