Eating Glass and Staring Into the Abyss

20 Apr 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief conversational excerpt, Feras Alhlou argues that achieving a high‑growth business (7‑8 figures) is incompatible with a conventional work‑life balance. He explains that founders must personally handle every functional area—marketing, sales, operations, legal, administration—and continuously refine the product and business model, which demands far more than a standard 40‑hour work week. The co‑speaker reinforces this harsh reality with a vivid metaphor, likening starting a company to "staring into the abyss and eating glass," underscoring the pain and sacrifice required for entrepreneurial success.

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If you want work-life balance, then you shouldn't start a business. They just don't go together. Getting a business off the ground that grows to 7 or 8 figures is a big feat that only an ambitious person can achieve. And that ambition cannot coexist with a comfortable work-life balance where you only work 40 hours and spend the rest of your time enjoying leisurely activities. The reason a business needs all the time and the learning is because as the owner, you need to do the work of every department— marketing, sales, operations, legal work, admin work, and everything else in between— in large part by yourself. That is not to mention the amount of effort simultaneously required to refine the offering and the business model.
And there's a friend of mine who says like starting a company is like staring into the abyss and eating glass. And there's some truth to that.