LaTonya Johnson breaks down why entrepreneurship is harder than it looks. Your bills don't pause when you quit your job, and she's seen costs jump $11,000 a year. Have three backup plans and real numbers before you leave steady work.
Questions this video answers
August 16, 2024
About $11,000 more (annual) compared to 2023
Quoted: 'I pay 500 and by 30 something dollars a month in insurance... that's another 584.' (speaker's phrasing)
Chapters
Good morning. So I want to talk about some of the realities of the journey.
The journey of entrepreneurship that social media doesn't really talk about.
When you decide to go out on your own, I want you to think about everything and I want to be in full transparency, man. Because life does not stop, bro. Life don't stop. Life don't stop.
Your kids don't start growing, bills don't stop coming. The economy doesn't stop changing. I read something yesterday that said that it takes about $11,000 more than it did in 2023 to live the same way that you lived last year. $11,000. That means that you need damn near a thousand more dollars a month to live the same way you lived last year.
What are you doing to make $11,000 more? Because your groceries went up, your gas went up, your utilities went up, but your damn pay didn't go up, did it?
And even being an entrepreneur, man, you have times of so much testing because it's all on you. Everybody on social media can show you the glam, baby. They can show you jumping in and out of Bentley's and stuff. But what does it take to get there? It's not always for some people, maybe it is for me. Like Apostle Paul, baby. I've been a base and I've been abound. I've had millions of dollars in my bank of account and I've had zero. I've been at a point where I couldn't afford underwear. At a very low time I was pregnant and couldn't afford my own underwear. My mama had to buy my underwear, you hear me?
So I, I've. I'm living, not lived. I'm living through various cycles of this entrepreneurship thing.
And I've been through times of like.
Pain and prosperity and sometimes the pain and prosperity were together. Just because you have a lot does not mean that you still, you ain't still going through some things. You know what I'm saying? And maybe you don't, but I'm just telling you it doesn't even, even in your high place, it does not take away the fact that you gonna go through some either way, either way.
But when you decide to jump out, realize.
Your employer is not paying your insurance. Two people. I pay 500 and by 30 something dollars a month in insurance, health insurance, car insurance, got me a 17 year old, that's another 584.
You know what I'm saying? Think about your insurance. I want you to calculate all the costs.
If you single calculate the stress that's gonna be on you when you decide to make this journey.
It all sounds good until you thinking and laying in bed trembling.
Because somebody else is dependent on you. It's not just you. You're not just eating for you. You're not just making money for you. You. You got somebody else's life in your hands who's depending on you. So when you think about all of this.
Calculate all the costs, have a plan A, a plan B, had a plan C. And I know that some, you know, some men say, well, you gotta go all in. You gotta just have this. And it ain't no backing out. Guess what? Men have the privilege of backing out on their kids. You don't. If you're a woman, you don't. I know several men who just said, I can't do it. Some men like men, you know, in my life, they don't back out on their kids. But I know some men who will back out on their kids. They had that privilege to go all in. Women came back out on them kids, bro. Okay, so calculate the cost. Have a plan A, a plan B, and a plan C. You know, part of the reason that I want to be free from corporate America is because.
In some ways, it seems like.
A break. It seems like, yeah, I get a paycheck, I ain't got to worry about that. But the trade off is that I'm here or getting here more than I'm spending time with my family, more than I'm living. And why, again, am I living? If this is it, this is it. Are you freaking kidding me? And a lot of people work, still can't take vacations, still living paycheck. This is fucking it. This is life, man. This shit is ridiculous. That's what it is. No, no, no, no, no, no. I want to live. I want to live. I want to take vacations. I want to enjoy this life that God has given me. That's why I've wanted to be an entrepreneur. What's your reason? And whatever your reason is.
Just calculate the cost. That's all I'm here to talk to you about. Calculate the cost and make sure you're ready, because it ain't all the bed of roses. God bless.
