Robin Waite pushes back on social media's glossy entrepreneurship myths, arguing that building a business takes decades of grinding work, not quick wins. A cyclist once told him, "It never gets any easier, you just go faster." Even after 20 years, Waite still gets nervous on stage and doubts himself.
Chapters
Starting a business is definitely not for the weak. People's expectations are massively unrealistic when it comes into setting up and running a business. We see these wonderful videos, reels, you know, and photos of Lamborghinis and people stood in front of aeroplanes and all these experts and gurus who are, you know, doing amazing things, running 6 and 7-figure businesses. And quite frankly, a lot of that's bullshit. I love cycling, and when I first started, It was really bloody hard. And I remember going up this categorized climb for the first time. I stopped a couple of times on the way up this hill. And I remember this guy in all of the gear, you know, the Lycra and flashy carbon bike and everything, went razzing up the hill. And I shouted up the road to him. I was like, oh, you're making this look easy. So the guy actually, believe it or not, waited at the top of the hill for me. We struck up a conversation and he said, oh yeah, what I said to you was it never gets any easier. You just go faster. And it's so true. Like in business, people make it look easy on the surface. When you see somebody like me stand on stage or do a talk or put a video together or help somebody out from a coaching perspective. But you have to remember there's a 20-year journey that stacks up behind that. It's like the 20-year overnight success. And it— and yet it still doesn't feel easy to me. I still get nervous when I stand on stage. I still fumble over my words. I still question after I've done something, whether it's a coaching session or a talk, what did I do? A good job? Did I miss anything out? Or things like that.
