The Brutality of Business Building... with a Solution

Dear Younger Me,

Business is brutal. Building a business even more. But business does not have to be brutal. I just finished watching The Social Network. It’s a movie about the founding of Facebook and long story short Zuckerberg makes a lot of enemies and seemingly sells his soul… at the expense of a $25 billion valuation. It got me thinking… why am I pursuing entrepreneurship? Why am I pursuing building a business?

At times I think it is because of the money. The status. The feeling of satisfaction from picking up an expensive dinner tab. But it needs to be greater than that. It needs to be more fulfilling than that. Listen here when I tell you that if the pursuit is for personal glory. If the pursuit is for financial glory. If the pursuit is for the fame of it all then the brutality of business will chew you up… and the brutality of building a business will spit you right back out.

Further along this walk you will meet some friends, younger me. You will meet mentors and industry leaders. What they all say is you need a purpose, that you need a purpose beyond money. Younger self listen when I tell you that it is not believable until you get into it. That the money and fame and glory will all come and you will still feel empty inside.

What is not told is even if you have a “purpose” beyond the common pursuits of materiality (money, status, ego, fame, etc), emptiness still comes. That even buying a house for your parents, or supporting a family or becoming financially free will not fully satisfy our deep desire for fulfillment. There is a reason

There is always emptiness because we as humans have the human condition that has been weaved together by a higher power. There has to be one, right? How can the feeling of dissatisfaction despite the pursuit and accomplishment of all our purposes still leave us empty? It is because we need to lift our eyes above the horizon. We need to lift our eyes not just above building a business. Not just about money. Brace yourself…not just the pursuit of a fulfilling marriage, being a great friend, spouse, parent, employee, or citizen. All those are means to the greater end of the true purpose.

If we are to find any satisfaction in the brutality of business, it is through our Creator. It is through God. It is through Jesus. There cannot be another way. There cannot be another explanation for the true unfulfillment we all have if we are honest with ourselves and try to say that it comes from anything else beside the One who made the heavens and the earth. The one who knit us together in our mother’s womb. The one who LOVES us more than anyone else.

Younger self, along the journey we have fallen and we have risen. We have succeeded and we have failed. I am here to say that the dreams of building a business, seeing the world, and everything else have all been accomplished. But younger self hear me when I tell you that in your pursuit Christ must be first. Faith must go above all else. Younger self, that is where true fulfillment lies.

Best,

Older You