Owning and operating a small business is often romanticized. Many people dream of breaking free from the corporate grind, being their own boss, and achieving financial independence on their own terms. But the reality? It’s hard. It’s relentless. And at the end of the day, when the ball drops, you are the one holding the bag.
Ben Haugh, the owner of three separate small businesses, has learned this firsthand. Running a business isn’t just about having a great idea or offering an excellent product or service—it’s about endurance. It’s about consistently showing up, making tough decisions, and weathering storms that can threaten the very survival of your company.
Ben will tell you, his mind never turns off; owning a business requires more than just the funds to make it happen. It requires constant goal setting, revisions, and remembering why you came into this world in the first place.
And most of all? Humility.
There have been times when Ben had to gather his most trusted advisors and team members around the table to discuss hard truths: revenue dips, operational inefficiencies, market shifts, and the need for critical changes. These are not easy conversations. They require humility to acknowledge that something isn’t working, trust in those around you, and confidence to make the right calls—even when those calls feel like walking through fire.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that starting their own business will grant them more freedom, less stress, and endless flexibility. While success can lead to some of these perks, the journey to get there is anything but easy.
Instead of fewer work hours, business owners often find themselves working around the clock. Instead of feeling liberated, they feel the weight of every decision, every customer, their employees’ livelihood, and every dollar spent. When you own a business, there’s no one else to blame when things go wrong. There’s no boss to turn to for solutions. It’s all on you.
The key to keeping a business alive—and thriving—is resilience. Confidence, perseverance, and adaptability are essential. Some days, it might feel like your business is a plane that’s losing altitude, threatening to crash into the trees. In those moments, it takes everything to pull the nose back up and keep flying.
Ben has done this time and time again, recognizing that business ownership is a never-ending cycle of learning, adjusting, and pushing forward. It requires:
If you’re considering starting a business because you think it will make your life easier, think again. Small business ownership is not for the faint of heart. It’s demanding, exhausting, and often thankless. But for those who are willing to endure, adapt, and persist, the rewards can be life-changing.
When it feels like everything’s about to crash and burn, the real test is staying on course, pushing through, and trusting the grind. Those moments—brutal as they are—are what separate the ones who make it from the ones who don’t. If you can take the hit, figure out what needs to change, and keep moving, that’s where real success comes from.
Success isn’t about avoiding challenges—it’s about meeting them head-on and proving, time and time again, that you have what it takes to keep the plane in the air.
Stay Driven, Stay Focused and Stay in Business
-Benjamin Haugh
