If You Want to Start a Business in 2026, You Need to Hear This⏐Ep. #259

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In this episode, I talk about the parts of entrepreneurship that people rarely tell you about and why so many founders feel blindsided once they’re in it. I share a simple GRIT framework I’ve developed after years of building and breaking businesses, and why understanding these challenges upfront matters more than chasing upside.

We get into the emotional swings, the hidden costs, and why progress often feels slower than expected. I also walk through practical mindset shifts that help you stay steady, focused, and moving forward when things get uncomfortable. This episode is about seeing the full picture before you decide if this path is really for you.

Enjoy!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
They're not telling you the whole story.
Who's they? Me, People like me, people on
the Internet that talk about business.
They're not telling you the whole story.
And so I wanted to take just a few minutes to make this video
to help you really understand what you're getting yourself
into with this whole thing called entrepreneurship.
I've developed a four step framework to identifying these
downsides to business ownership and overcoming those downsides.

(00:22):
I call it my grit framework. Grit.
If you can overcome these four things with my 4 tactics, then
I'm confident entrepreneur ownership can be for you.
But if you don't know what they are, then you've got a major
blind spot my friend, and I advise you to not even attempt
it. And if you're just now coming
across this channel for the first time, my name is Chris
Koerner. I started over 80 businesses and
I've had a lot of failures. My businesses have generated

(00:44):
hundreds of millions of revenue,10s of millions in profit.
But I have had failed partnerships, lawsuits,
headaches, heartaches, and everything in between.
I've seen some stuff, so just know that this video is based on
17 years of beating my head against the wall in
entrepreneurship. So what does grit stand for?
G grind. Entrepreneurship is a grind, and

(01:04):
not in a good way. It's hard, it's dirty, it's
messy. When I see a news article break
about some big name entrepreneurthat blew up that had a big
lawsuit, I always try to see it from the other side of the table
because I know how messy business can be.
Progress can feel impossible at times.
It always takes longer than you think and it always cost more
money than you think and it's always harder than you think.

(01:26):
It's a grind. R stands for risk.
In my experience, it's not a huge monetary risk to start a
business because I start stuff with only a little bit of money.
But it's a time risk. It's an opportunity cost risk.
Which is why I preach the opposite of focus.
Spread out your risk. Focusing on just one thing is a
risk in and of itself. What if you pick the wrong

(01:47):
thing? Now the I in grit stands for
isolation. You're probably under thinking
how isolating entrepreneurship is.
People don't understand the guysI go to church with, the guys I
went to college with, they don'tget it.
And it's not their fault that they don't get it.
They just haven't done it. And so I don't have people to
commiserate with. And then the T stands for

(02:07):
turbulence. It is volatile.
Would you believe that since becoming a full time
entrepreneur, I've had more $0.00 income years than I've had
positive income years? I'm not joking.
Thankfully, the positive income years more than outweigh the 0
income years. And I hate to break it to you,
but the financial turbulence is not even the biggest part of it.
It's the emotional turbulence. It's a constant rollercoaster.

(02:30):
You know how many times I've shaken hands on a deal or signed
a deal that was supposed to be life changing, that was supposed
to change everything and it all fell apart?
Like I could count. I would need 3 or 4 hands to
count how many times that's happened.
And each and every time that happened, I was elated.
I was on top of the world. Even my John McAfee story, I was
sure that would bring me 10s of millions of dollars.

(02:50):
What a partnership. No, and it didn't.
Over the course of two or three hours on any given day, you will
go from way up here to way, way down here.
And that's every day. It is turbulent.
Oh, but if your dad, if your mom, you got to put on a brave
face, you can't let that show. It's not their fault that you
did that. They need you to be unwavering.
And Speaking of turbulence, you ever experienced turbulence on a

(03:12):
plane? Of course you have.
You know what I do? I look at the stewardess, the
flight attendant, I look at their face, I look at their
eyes. Almost every time they're stoic,
they're unfazed. And when I see that stoicism, I
feel safe, feel like it's going to be OK.
And it always has been. There's been one time it wasn't
on an airplane, but one time when the expert in the room was
not stoic. That was the birth of my third
child. My wife was having some serious

(03:34):
issues and the doctor, I looked at her and she looked very
worried. She delivered like 1500 babies
at this point. Thankfully, due to a couple
miracles, he was safe and fine and everything's great.
But that's the face you need to have for your family, for your
loved ones, the stoic face. OK, but now that we've gotten
the grit acronym out of the way,what is the solution to all four
of those things? Well, let's start with G.

(03:54):
Now I'm kind of an acronym nerd,so I made the solution acronym
the same GRIT as well. What is the solution to the
grind part? It's gratitude.
Sounds hokey, but man, the olderI get the more I am reminded
that gratitude solves just abouteverything.
Everything. If you're in an argument with
your spouse, try to be grateful for them, grateful that you have

(04:15):
them, and that annoyance will just float away.
The same is true in business. Be grateful for the grind.
What a privilege. This is what you wanted to work
on. It's not the universe's fault
that it's harder than expected, that it's taking longer than
expected. That's just your optimism, and
you should be grateful for that too.
Most people don't have that optimism.
Remember that there are no wasted efforts.

(04:36):
Compounding doesn't care that that initiative failed or that
that business took three times as long to get off the ground.
That was not wasted. So be grateful.
R risk, right? What's the antidote to risk?
Reminders. Reminders.
We forget how important remembering is.
We have to learn and relearn thesame lessons over and over and

(04:56):
over if we want it to truly sinkdeeply.
So remember to offset the risk. Remember why you started this in
the 1st place. What were the metrics that you
were originally saw that made you excited about this idea in
the 1st place or this initiativeor whatever?
Remember, go back to that spreadsheet that you made when
you were hyped about this. Look at it.
Remember those numbers. Remember the plan.

(05:17):
Remember, it's going to take longer than you think 95% of the
time, 5% of the time, it's goingto take a lot less time than you
think. And that's actually really
exciting. But don't count on that.
You didn't hear it from me. You need core values.
You need a mission. You need to ride it on your
mirror dry erase marker and readit every time you brush your
teeth. Remember.
Remember your why. Remember your goals.
Remember your children, your wife, your girlfriend, your

(05:39):
boyfriend, whatever. Remember why you're doing this
and the I Remember the I isolation.
What's the antidote to isolation?
You need interaction. Interaction with other people,
preferably other entrepreneurs, but it doesn't have to be the
case. Remember, fear and loneliness
are best friends. You need to interact.
You need to interact with your spouse.

(05:59):
Terrible at this. You need to talk to them and if
the feedback that you get from them makes you more anxious or
stressed, then you need to tell them that because they don't
know that. I had to do this with my wife
like 10 years in. I was like, babe, I love you.
I love talking to you about everything, but you're too much
of my hype man. I would tell her about a deal
that went South or that a vendoror a customer or a partner that
did me wrong and she would get so angry with me on behalf of

(06:23):
me, which is what great supportive spouses do, but that
would just stress me out. So finally I had to say, babe,
you're probably doing this in the right way, but it's not the
right way for me. I just want you to listen.
Just soak it in. I already know you're an active
listener, so I don't need you tointerject with like follow up
questions. Just let me vent, Right?
Interaction is the antidote for isolation and T turbulence.

(06:46):
What is the antidote for turbulence?
It's traction. Traction is the antidote.
Progress. Little wins.
Even if that e-mail was opened, that's it.
That's traction. Cling to that like it's your
last hope. And here's the thing, traction,
we all experience it. We just don't notice it or we're
not grateful for it. Back to the G So don't sit there
and think, well, how am I just going to like go out and like

(07:07):
grab traction if like the markets not giving it back to
me. You're getting traction.
It might just not be the traction that you're hoping for
or expecting right now, but you're getting something.
And the more traction you remember, the more traction you
point out and call out, the lessturbulence you'll have.
Your highs will be a little lower, but your lows will be a
lot higher because whatever situation you're in, it's

(07:27):
usually not as bad as you think and it's it's usually not as
good as you think either. If everything's crushing it,
there's probably stuff you haven't uncovered yet that will
make your excitement die down just a little bit and vice
versa. So guys, I know I'm not like the
mindset guy. I'm not like the big picture
guy. That's not my calling in this
business world. I really like being tactical and
specific, but I think that I undersell the mindset shifts

(07:49):
that I've had to make unknowingly.
I wish it was deliberate. I wish I could refer a dozen
books to you, just help fix the problem.
But I think I underseller and appreciate those that I've had
to develop over the years. So I was out on this walk.
I had my camera. And so I thought, let's put this
together and get it out to the world.
And if you want to fix that eye problem, the isolation, check
out TK owners.com. There's 700 of us in there

(08:11):
building businesses and we're all going through the same crap.
If you know a friend that's lonely, we're trying to build a
business that's struggling, which is basically everyone.
Send this video to him and I'll make their day.
See you next time on the Kerner office.