One year ago, I became an entrepreneur. I was a 23-year-old with an intention to start my own business as a career transition coach.
With high hopes and huge aspirations, I enrolled in a coach training program and began taking the steps towards starting my biz. Like other purpose-driven entrepreneurs, my intentions were, and still are, to provide an exceptional service to people while enjoying the flexibility of being my own boss.

What I didn’t realize was how slippery a slope the path is for a successful entrepreneur in today’s digital age.

As I got involved with entrepreneur communities, I was quickly overwhelmed by how much I was being sold to, and not in an authentic, service-driven kind of way. Every person I met had something they wanted to offer me, and it generally came with a huge price tag.

It became obvious there’s a huge bubble of shady businesses online that take advantage of aspiring, and dare I say naiive, entrepreneurs. These businesses are built on teaching others how to start a business, and some of their founders have no biz experience themselves.

My advice to any entrepreneur getting started: leave the bubble.

Heck, I’m convinced my business would be 10x easier if I switch my niche to newbie entrepreneurs, but I don't because that would be out of alignment with my integrity.

Here’s why starting entrepreneurs are easy to prey on:

1) They're obsessively focused on what they want.

The digital entrepreneur of today is as fanatic about building a business as a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert. Both are so clear on what they want that they’ll spend tons of money to get it.

2) They'll do anything to avoid failure.

The fear of failure makes entrepreneurs even more vulnerable. Failure to an entrepreneur means dealing with embarrassment from your family and peers, and it also means living with the fact that your dream has not been fulfilled.

3) They're hungry for freedom.

Especially in America, land of the free, entrepreneurship has become conflated with the notion of freedom itself. Our country values freedom above all else, and people perceive entrepreneurship as a means to obtaining such freedom.

As a result of these traits, entrepreneurs throw thousands of dollars into whomever has enough charisma to convince them they have the tools you need to succeed. Ironically, these biz development services aren’t giving us anything but emotional security and validation.

They overprice their services not because their program is really worth it, but so YOU have a bigger emotional investment in the program. We don’t like to think our hard-earned cash is being wasted, so our logical mind works real hard to rationalize any big investments we make.

Let’s not be fooled by the mind trick anymore. There comes a time when an entrepreneur must understand the overflow of scams being sold to them. There comes a time when an entrepreneur needs to leave the bubble and trust that they already have what it takes to succeed.

Who's doing it right?

YouTubers. Here are individuals that began uploading clips of their lives 7 years ago with no idea who would watch it online. Now, some YouTubers are leading international tours, signing book deals and getting their own TV shows.
What these YouTubers have that today's entrepreneurs don't is a genuine willingness to connect with their audience. People not only like that, but they want it.

When entrepreneurs get consumed by the shiny object syndrome online, they begin caring more about their profits than the people they want to serve. This is where the entrepreneur fails.

You can invest as much as you want in that new marketing training, but it won't teach you how to have an authentic connection with your market. In order to run a successful business, you must show real compassion for others.
That’s it. There’s no secret sales technique, no special formula, and certainly no get-rich-quick scheme out there. It all comes down to your compassion for others. The successful entrepreneurs of the future will be those who express such transparency and connection.

Yes, becoming an entrepreneur is scary, and it’s a path that should not be treaded alone. However, there are other ways to make yourself feel secure and validated than the crap that’s flooding the Internet.

If you know an entrepreneur, please share this with them so they are saved from the time, frustration and money.

As for me, I’m excited to begin my second year as an entrepreneur with a much-needed awakening to my own strengths and potential to serve.

Never dismiss or neglect the intangible gifts you already have, as they can never be bought, taught or sold.

A guest post written by Tara Alisha, Co-Founder of Epic.