Awane Jones, CEO, Merchlar, Montreal, QC

Through the media we often hear massive success stories of companies such as Apple, Facebook and many others making billions of dollars in a short period of time (and making it look easy). Look at the movie “The Social Network” as an example. However, they paint an unrealistic picture of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur.

Being an entrepreneur is hard. It is hard because we have decided that there is something fundamentally wrong with going to work for someone else every day. Deep down we have other desires. We see the world in another light and we want to share it. But that dream has a price, a heavy price. No one ever talks about how mentally tough you have to be to withstand and carry you through missing payrolls, the bank harassing you about your credit line, the ridiculously picky client who is driving you up the wall, or raising those desperately needed funds. Yes, we all read and hear about vision, teamwork, collaboration, funding, etc.

Mental toughness is what will separate an entrepreneur that will succeed and one that will fail. How many times can you be faced with adversity and you still rise to the occasion?

In my opinion this is the most underrated aspect of an entrepreneur’s journey. If you accept this inevitability you have already won half the battle.

Good luck fellow entrepreneurs, because truthfully, an overnight success takes 10 years.

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