Four Years Versus Forty

I recently came across a quote that stuck with me:

“It’s interesting how people think four years is too long to build a successful business yet accept spending 40 years working for someone else.”

I’m not sure who originally said it, and despite what the internet claims, it probably wasn’t Warren Buffett, but there is some truth to it.

We tend to notice businesses once they are established. We see the finished product, the growing team and the confidence that seems to come with success. What is harder to see are the years when nothing was guaranteed.

There are the financial pressures, missed weekends, sleepless nights and decisions made with limited information. There is also the anxiety of wondering whether your idea will work and the added pressure that comes when employees, customers and families begin relying on it.

Some businesses start with a detailed plan and financial backing. Others start with one truck, a borrowed office, a laptop at the kitchen table or simply an idea someone can’t stop thinking about.

Building One Horizon Living has given me a much greater appreciation for that process. It has also taught me that entrepreneurship is rarely as glamorous as it may appear from the outside. Some days, it feels like you’re building your dream. Other days, it feels like all the baggage and bullshit is a weight too heavy.

There is nothing wrong with working for someone else. It offers stability, structure and, occasionally, the ability to enjoy a Saturday without solving an unexpected problem.

But there is something to be said for people who are willing to trade some of that certainty for the opportunity to build something of their own.

Not every idea succeeds, and the outcome is never guaranteed. Still, anyone who has taken that chance (or is somewhere in the difficult middle of it), keep your head up. We’re in it together.

Four years can feel like a long time while you’re living through them. Compared with an entire career, though, perhaps it isn’t that long after all.