5 reasons why you should start a company today

5 reasons why you should start a company today5 reasons why you should start a company todayIt seems like everybody today wants to be an entrepreneur.Figures like Elon Musk and Gary Vaynerchuk are exalted as rock stars, admired for their wealth, fame, and seemingly limitless amounts of brainpower.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreOddly enough, American entrepreneurship has beenon the declinefor the last four decades. And since the stock market crash of 2008, the number of startup launches has stayed around 425,000 per year, rather than the 500,000-600,000 range of years past.Im also finding that many articles published about entrepreneurship tend to play up the negative, with topics such as Why Entrepreneurship Is notlage For Everyone or Signs Youre Not Cut Out To Start Your Own Business. No doubt, being your own boss is difficult. Its a lot of hard work, and theres no guarantee i tll work out.Butbuilding your own companyis super rewarding.Starting as early as my teenage years, Ive been the founder of over 10 different businesses. Along the way, Ive realized the entrepreneurs who are fruchtwein successful over the long run are the ones who get into it for the right reasons- they love what theyre doing and feel passionate about solving a problem.If you feel driven to become an entrepreneur, embrace the challenge. Trust me when I say that your potential for success and fulfillment is truly unlimited.Here are five reasons, despite data telling you otherwise, you should start a company1 Youll experience true, liberating freedomWhile it is stressful to be entirely in charge of a ventures success or failure (not to mention the livelihood of your employees), being an entrepreneur is a liberating experience.Youre free to make decisions, set your own processes, define your destiny. Beyond just getting to call the shots, you also enjoy a deep sense of satisfaction when you put your all into something and believe in yourself with every fiber of your being.Theres real freedom to having anabundance mindset- knowing you can do anything and your opportunities are endless.2 Youll learn more than any book can teachWith Google and YouTube at your fingertips, you can teach yourself anything. Even if you dont have a computer or internet connection, you can go to a public library and find an infinite amount of free information on any topic youre interested in.But knowledge is useless without action, so you have to actually do something with all the stuff you learn.By starting my own companies, I gained more wisdom than I could from any book. When I was buildingInfluencive, for example, I acquired a new perspective on what it means to run a publication- particularly how the tech side of digital publishing works. Here, I gained a deep comprehension of all the different elements needed to start a company from the ground up.As the captain of the ship, you need to learn how everything works in order to ensure youre steering in the right direction.3 Youll push resourcefulness to its limitsEntrepreneurs create something out of nothing.They start a company from ground zero, and in the process, they figure out how to bootstrap and make things happen with few resources. This experience makes entrepreneurs very different from members of a family business who were handed their responsibilities on a platter.The ability to be resourceful, and the flexibility required to pivot after making mistakes, gives entrepreneurs a competitive edge over everyone else. They have a deep understanding of how to be successful and how to compete in the marketplace.Ten times out of ten, I bet on the person with real-life skills who puts blood, sweat, and tears into a venture.4 Youll get more respectEntrepreneurs have mutual respect for each other, and its nice to be part of that club.People generally want to help out, especially when they recognize that youre the re al deal and are passionate about what you do. If youre going to sell digital marketing services, for example, reach out to people who have already built similar companies and are doing what you want to do. The more phone calls you make and emails you send, the more likely youll get a response from someone.People reach out to me all the time to ask for advice and say they really admire what Ive done. I respond to several of those messages each week because I respect that theyre putting themselves out there.5 Youll see its not as risky as you thinkEven if youre the sole breadwinner of a big family, there are things you can do to mitigate the financialrisk of being an entrepreneur.For one, you dont have to quit your job to start a company. Instead, you can treat your business as a side hustle, devoting time to it after work and on the weekends. Additionally, you can ask yourself one simple question to realize that most of the time, the worst case scenario is actually not that bad.The q uestion is So what?Lets say your business fails. Okay, so what? Well, you wasted a bunch of time and money. So what? You didnt make any money during that period. So what? You cant pay your rent. So what? Alright, you have to find somewhere to live. Okay, so what? You stay with a friend or family member until you can make your next move. And so on. You get the idea.By adopting this type of stoic mindset, you give yourself permission to fail and gain the courage to jump into the deep end.Many things in life are risky. Even going to college requires a huge investment of time and money- and youre not even guaranteed a job after you graduate. Dont letfearor excuses hold you back from starting your own company.It takes sacrifice to achieve big things, and being an entrepreneur is no exception. With the right mindset, you can learn to cultivate the skills that will make you successful. Remember, entrepreneurship isnt as dangerous as you might thinkThis article first appeared on Minutes Mag azine.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people