Anyone familiar with the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe might know a bit more than the average person about getting pushed to the limit – and breaking through to the other side.

From my experience over a decade into my entrepreneurship journey, I’ve realized that success in business, or in anything really, is simply a test of perseverance. 

Yeah sure, technical skill is important, crucial really. But it’s something you can learn. Perseverance is simply a test of strength and stamina. In business, it’s mental and physical. Spiritual even. Or, rather, mostly. So much of succeeding in business is having faith, too. Faith in yourself. And faith that you’ve set yourself up in the best way possible, and to trust that everything will work out.

While there are certainly more than just five rites of passage for every business owner or entrepreneur, I’m honored to share the ones that impacted me the most.

1. Publicly failing.
2. Having an employee or contractor totally screw you.
3. Fake love from colleagues.
4. Utter confusion.
5. Theft.

Let’s dive in.

It’s not a real party until someone gets thrown in the pool fully dressed right? Ha, I don’t know where that came from, but it’s how it feels to publicly fail. And this, my friend, is one of your rites of passage. 

Are you a perfectionist like me? You’re doomed. You’ll wake up at 3am every day just to avoid this. You’ll bend over backwards for your clients and work on a website draft on the beach on your birthday just to avoid this.

Business tip: there’s no way to avoid this. Simply put, you are human, and you will fail. So, don’t work on a website on the beach on your birthday. Don’t work on Sundays when it’s family time. If you have a client who thinks you’ve “failed” them – simply learn from the experience.

Work to weave them out from the beginning. Raise your prices and increase awareness of the value you provide. Fix what didn’t work, and if it wasn’t you, but rather an overly picky client, just accept it and move on.

I own a boutique global marketing agency. One time I got a referral from a dear client and unfortunately, while I was able to move the needle positively in nearly every direction, I wasn’t able to generate the sales necessary for this particular client. It was difficult as the brand was a bit cringe-y (one I didn’t design), and while I got them to the front page of Google for every search, people just weren’t buying it.

I performed my work extremely well, but once people got there, I’m guessing they felt the same way as I did – a bit awkward. I had to acknowledge that while I performed my job well, I was still looked at as a “failure” to them and my longtime client who referred me.

Talk about embarrassing! But, I knew the truth. I did a great job, with visible results anyone could look up on their own, and while I could own that, I had to also own that I shouldn’t have accepted a client whose brand made me feel that way – even if it was a referral. Lesson learned, moving on…

So, let’s talk about the second rite of passage – when an employee screws you over. This is a fun one. A real fun one. It’s great when you finally get somewhere in your business, you build up enough work that you can’t even take it all on yourself, so you hire help.

Wow! You’re amazing! Look at you! Pinch yourself. You’re a real business!

So, you’re so buys doing your stuff, you don’t check on your contractor or employee too much. After all, they are an adult and fully competent right?

The project comes due…

It’s completely, completely wrong. Nothing is salvageable. It has to be completely redone.

Within an hour.

Cancel the presentation meeting? Fire your employee? Quit your business entirely?

Meh. It’s alright. Analyze what you did wrong. It’s all good. Remember that indeed you are the one who explained the job (and obviously poorly). Here’s where the thick skin needs to come in. Get over yourself. Think about how you could have done it better. Or, did you give the wrong person the wrong job? Could AI do it better? How can you avoid this in the future?

Just know that this is a rite of passage you cannot skip.

You can’t get around this one.

You can’t have your employees and contractors performs perfectly every time from the beginning of starting your business until the day you sell it.

Nope.

The timeline will go something like this. Hire first assistant. Get overly giddy to have such assistant. Not have any clue how to manage said assistant. Forget to regularly check on assistant. Get screwed over. Analyze. Do it better next time.

Simple as that.

Ready for a bit of a sinister one? Fake love from colleagues. It’s not that annoying, but just prepare yourself to meet people at networking groups and events who act like robots and never actually help you out.

A better way to network is to be the speaker at the event or run your own networking group. I’ve found most networking groups to be:

• transient
• draining
• fake

Sorry… it’s better to run your own. Attract, don’t chase. Run your group around authenticity and include lessons or activities of value. Be wary of paid networking groups… but also know there is no way around it. You WILL try them. And if you read the Elephant Journal, it’s likely you’ll experience this and begin your own group and way of networking. It’s simply, yep, a rite of passage for entrepreneurs.

We’re at number four on our list: utter confusion.

Friends. There is literally no way to escape this entrepreneurship rite of passage.

At some point in your business, you won’t know up from down, right from left. It will be overwhelming and you’ll lose all the creativity and spark you once had. Welcome to burnout. It’s inevitable if you want o be a successful entrepreneur. Not one has made it through without a touch of burnout and utter confusion.

I used to approach it all alone. “I can do anything! I don’t need anyone!” And then I realized that was garbage. And, while I don’t always recommend a coach in the beginning of your business journey (get some traction first – it is expensive, no way around that), I DO recommend a coach when you get utterly confused. And you will, love. You will.

Ready for the final rite of passage for (arguably) all business owners? Theft. Idea theft. Vibe theft. Actual theft of your specific ideas or even photography. Ugh!

The last one happened to me. A “rival” agency in town took one of my pictures from my website (that I personally took) and used it in an article on their site without credit. They added it, but it was annoying. Past clients are constantly using photos without credit as well. And, I’ve had people steal logos, ideas, etc. It’s hard to watch, and you can only do something about it some of the time. Sometimes it’s not worth the battle, or you can’t even figure out how to get in touch with the person to talk to them about it.

On this one, try your best to fight tangible and intangible theft. Don’t just let it pass by because you don’t want the trouble. You took your hard earned expertise and time to create that. Protect it. But, also, know…. it’s an inescapable rite of passage too. And, like all the others, it’s surmountable and something you can always learn from.

If you make it through these rites of passage, I have zero doubt you’ll make it all the way to a lucrative business sale, when you’re finally done with all the tests. You passed. You made it.