What it takes to be an Entrepreneur | Beyond The Grind #022

What Does It Really Take To Be an Entrepreneur?

Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur—until it’s time to pay your team before you pay yourself. Social media has painted a glossy picture of business ownership, full of freedom and flashy wins. But what about the other side? The late nights, the payroll anxiety, the sheer weight of responsibility? This is the conversation we’re having on Beyond The Grind. We’re pulling back the curtain on what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and it’s not always pretty.

Our host Korede "Kay" Fanilola puts it best: many people see the CEO title as "Chief Executive Officer," but for a founder, it’s more like "Chief of Everything Officer." You're the strategist, the marketer, the janitor, and the person accountable for it all. The reality is, the entrepreneurial path is paved with challenges that highlight a crucial truth: it’s not for everyone, and that’s perfectly okay.

"Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur until it's time to pay everybody else before you pay yourself." — Korede

The Wake-Up Call: When Theory Meets Reality

Every founder has that moment when the business plan meets the real world. For Allen, it was realizing his carefully crafted marketing and research didn’t immediately translate into a flood of customers. "I thought it would just open the doors and patients be like, boom, boom, boom," he shared. The projections didn't match the practice, a common "welcome to entrepreneurship" moment for many.

For Korede, the wake-up call was even more personal. It hit when he had to hire his first employee, convincing someone to leave a stable job to join his vision. The responsibility was immense. "You're now responsible for this person who happens to have a husband or a wife who has kids," he reflected. "The sole decision boils down to you." Unlike a 9-to-5 where a mistake can be absorbed by the company, a founder feels the impact of every single dollar.

This is the core of the ownership mentality. It’s the understanding that you are the engine. You must be a self-starter, a leader, and someone who can separate emotion from the hard data of your business. Without it, the pressure can be crushing.

Are You a Solopreneur or an Entrepreneur?

Tosin breaks down the journey into two distinct paths: the solopreneur and the entrepreneur. A solopreneur runs a business single-handedly, maintaining full control. An entrepreneur builds and manages a team, which introduces a completely different set of dynamics and responsibilities.

His advice? Start small. Test your idea as a side hustle while keeping your day job. This "part-time" approach allows you to experience the solopreneur life at a manageable risk level. Tosin shared his own story of starting his CPA firm, not with a huge investment, but by telling his network what he wanted to do. His first client came from a referral from his then-girlfriend (now wife), and he built from there, initially roping in family members to help.

This gradual process helps you discover if you have the necessary skills and, more importantly, the desire to manage others. As Korede notes, there are four key traits every founder needs:

• Ownership Mentality: You have to be a self-starter.
• Grit: You will face turbulence and need the resilience to push through.
• Risk-Taking: You have to be willing to do things differently to compete.
• Being Okay with Failing: Failure is a part of the process. You only need to be right once.

"The longer you spend crying over spilled milk, the longer you delay the success that may be waiting out there for you." — Allen

The Non-Negotiable Skills for Success

While you don’t need a PhD in every aspect of business, you do need a working knowledge of the fundamentals. As a founder, you must understand your business model, how you make money, and the key metrics for your industry. "If you want to raise money," Korede explained, "you need to get the skill set on how to raise money, what a cap table looks like." You don’t have to be the expert, but you must be dangerous enough to have an educated conversation.

Above all, there is one skill that unites every successful entrepreneur: sales. "Every business is all about selling," Tosin insists. From convincing a co-founder to join you, to pitching an investor, to winning your first customer, you are always selling. This doesn't mean you have to be a classic extrovert, but you must be able to articulate the problem your business solves and why your solution is the one to choose.

The journey of an entrepreneur is a demanding one, filled with highs and lows that test your resolve. It requires grit, a willingness to fail, and an unshakeable sense of ownership. If you’re a dreamer who is intentional about executing, this conversation is for you.

To dive deeper into the realities of entrepreneurship, watch the full episode on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and our newsletter for more candid conversations that go beyond the grind.