18 Years, 8 Businesses, and the Biggest Lie I Believed About Entrepreneurship
Oct 28, 2026
18 years ago, when I launched my first business, my goal was to never have to look for a job again.
No more interviews.
No more being called into HR to be terminated.
No more asking permission to take a lunch break.
Little did I know that when you own your own business, you interview every single day. Sometimes multiple times a day. You're often terminated by clients. You don't get a lunch break, and sometimes you get so busy you forget to eat altogether.
Oh, the irony.
I thought entrepreneurship meant freedom from all the things I hated about being an employee. And in some ways, it absolutely did. But I also traded the "security" of a paycheck for the responsibility of creating one. I traded having a boss for having clients, employees, vendors, and an entire business that I'm held accountable for.
And now, 18 years later and 8 businesses in, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's been some of the best and worst experiences of my life, BUT they are my experiences. The consequences of my own decisions and actions. Not someone else's. And I love that for me.
Because the freedom I was looking for wasn't really about never having another interview, never being laid off, or taking lunch whenever I wanted.
It was about having the ability to build a life on my own terms. To choose who I work with, what kind of business I want to run, and how I want to spend my time.
Turns out, I didn't escape all those things just because I owned my own business. I just gained the ability to decide how I wanted to navigate them.
And perhaps the biggest lesson I've learned in these 18 years? Owning a business doesn't automatically give you freedom. You have to intentionally build a business that allows you to have it.
And that is the hardest, most trying part of owning a business.
Manifesting Magic,
Crys
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