My name is Tiago and I am hosting the Wannabe Entrepreneur Podcast for more than 170 episodes now.
This has given me the chance to interview many entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and in multiple stages. From bootstrappers that have terminated their projects without even really starting it to entrepreneurs that write books and have thousands of followers.
I learned a lot from them but one unexpected learning was that:
They all have insecurities
All of them fall into the impostor syndrome trap. Here are some good examples...
1- Arvid Kahl
Arvid had an excellent exit with is company, sells hundreds of books and has more than 40K followers on Twitter.
In my interview with Arvid he told me that he looks up to Peter Levels and there is times when he envies his success regarding the number of books he is able to sell.
2- Dagobert
In a matter of month he was able to grow his number of Twitter followers from 2K to 12K.
In my interview both with him and his Wife/Co-founder they told me that they are only now reaching a somehow decent salary after 4 years of struggling and that the pressure of keeping it up and avoid mistakes is sometimes too high to handle.
3- The Bread Code
A YouTuber with 100K subscribers told me that he has spent one year without even reaching the 1K mark and after finding some traction has been spending countless hours with marketing, social media and testing multiple titles and thumbnail.
All of the examples lead to three important conclusions...
No matter our degree of success we all have our insecurities.
Quite often you might think that the people you look up are better than you and you will never achieve their level but In reality, they are most likely worried to reach their own idols or simply stressing out to keep up their momentum.
What you see is not what it seems
Behind every successful entrepreneur, there are years of hard work, sacrifices and self-doubt. The success might seem instant for you because you only get to know the person at their best, but believe me. It takes time...
Just because they are famous it does not mean they are rich
There are very trendy businesses and profiles that in reality are actually making very little money. Either because they are spending most of it in marketing or just because it is hard monetize...
Let's keep pushing
Like you there are tons of other indie makers trying to build their projects and having little success. You are not alone! Just keep working consistently and always in the lookout for what you can improve!
And if you feel like you need some extra support checkout our entrepreneurs virtual co-working space.
Cheers,
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