#243: Be more American

Being a founder/entrepreneur isn't weird. Other people just think it is.

“What do you do then mate?”

I’m sitting in the barbers chair and he asks that question.

I’ve got two choices.

1. Lie. Hide a part of myself through fear of where the conversation may lead. 
   

2. Say; “I run this business” or “I’m an entrepreneur” or “I work for myself”. Open myself up to any number of responses I just can’t be bothered to entertain today.

“I just work in marketing up the road mate”

I shut the conversation down. I couldn’t be bothered to tell the barber I was the founder of a mental health company. I couldn’t be bothered to run the risk of having them pour their heart out to me, or just look at me like I’m strange, or ask me a lot of questions. 

On that day, I worked in marketing “up the road”

Ever since I took the red pill and stumbled into the world of startups and entrepreneurship I’ve felt like a bit of an outcast.

 Only when I began connecting with other startup founders did I begin to feel normal about what I did. I realised that this is a career that people actually do.

When I’m building something, it’s easier, you can describe what you are doing and if you’re passionate about it, you’ll entertain any scepticism or doubt, you might even land an early customer. 

When you’re in between or you’ve failed, it’s really hard. Most people hate the unknown and in the UK we have a very immature attitude towards career uncertainty, or taking risks. 

I’ve struggled with this. When I’ve told people I moved away from one thing, many seem puzzled. When I’ve told them I don’t really know what I’m doing next many become mute. 

I understand it’s a bizarre path, but actually, it really isn’t that bizarre. Our relationship and understanding of entrepreneurship in this country isn’t great. 

Not only do we barely recognise entrepreneurship as a valid career, but we continue to stigmatise failure and reject the unknown. 

Entrepreneurship lives in uncertainty and failure is natural.

On a recent trip to New York, whilst looking up at the skyscrapers named after entrepreneurs and industrialists, I was slapped in the face with how little we celebrate entrepreneurship in the UK. 

We are afraid of confronting failure, and perhaps worse, we criticise success. 

Making money is widely perceived as a shameful act, and those who are very good at it, work hard to hide their wealth for fear of judgement. 

When somebody does do well, the first question seems to be “what inheritance did they have?” or “what unethical job do they do?” We are very quick to judge and to find ways to diminish people’s achievements. 

If someone from a poor or working class background grows a business and grows their wealth, they then become a sell-out and somebody who’s forgotten their roots. Their “new money” isn’t classy, it’s arrogant. 

What on earth is this culture? Where has it stemmed from? The UK is built on exceptional thinkers, inventors and innovators who pioneered much of the success we live off today. 

Yet in 2024, I still feel like a weirdo being an entrepreneur. If you take the risk to go it alone, you’re weird. If you fail, you’re really weird. If you succeed then you’ll be judged as to whether you are worthy of it.  

In the last 6 months I’ve noticed my head dropping when I talk about what I do. I’ve noticed my chin falling closer to the floor than to the sky. “Yeah I’ve moved away from my last business and I’m working on the next one” I mumble to an old mate from school I bump into in the street. 

Where’s my pride? 

There are many things I don’t love about American culture, but in this instance, when it comes to entrepreneurship, money-making and failure. I’d like to be a bit more American. 

Not only would I like to hold myself, my successes, my failures and my actual career with more pride. I’d love it if people could spend a little more effort to try and understand entrepreneurship too. 

Most of the time, I think entrepreneurship and creative work makes others feel uncomfortable because we don’t fit into a neat box like Lawyer, Doctor or Accountant. Or, we touch a deep-lying nerve in people that says “you’re not brave enough or good enough to do that”

Chuck me in the entrepreneurship box and just be ok with the fact that inside that box, it’s full of uncertainty, genius, “weirdness”, failure and eccentricity. We need this box in our world, just like we need a box full of Nurses and Teachers.

When it comes to British culture and the desire to bring people down, to be sceptical and judgemental. I think we are moving past that, or accepting that it will always be there in some form. It’s one of the good things social media has done, because entrepreneurial role models are now much easier to find. 

You need to know that if you are stepping into a world where you want to create or work for yourself. Then judgement, criticism and analysis come with the territory. Welcome to the game. 

It’d be nice though if there were as many applauses and cheerleaders in the arena as there are doubters and sceptics. We can all play a part in that.

A like on social media, a message to say “good luck”, being someones first customer or user goes a long long way. When you see your friends on this path, let them know you’ve got their back.

If you’re a founder or entrepreneur in the UK feeling a bit lonely, or a bit misunderstood, my advice for you today - be more American.