I wish the title of this post wasn’t based on first-hand experience that I’ve had in the last twelve months, but it absolutely was.

There I was staring at my webcam on a call with 2 other people whom I deeply like and respect ….snot…tears….weird mouth sounds….6, no 8 minutes, of sloppy, soul-exploding exposure…and I couldn’t make it stop.

I let them down and didn’t have good answers.

Hell, I let myself down the most to be honest.

A project went over budget and I was eating it month over month.

It was threatening the viability of my new venture.

…And hot damn you know what happened?

I didn’t get fired.

That’s right…that seemingly, insurmountable challenge built a stronger relationship. Those tears weren’t contrived. They were the honest expression of a totally unforeseen, deeply overwhelming circumstance.

What is the RLB (Real Life Bootstrapping) lesson from all of this?

The process of building something with your own resources and dreams is absolutely gut-wrenching. Sometimes the founder-zen-bros make it sound linear and mathematical. Like a set of step-by-step instructions. Like making grilled cheese. In my experience, though, it’s more like a purification and forging agent. You question your worth constantly. Don’t kid yourself about it being easy or fun.

Is it good? YES, absolutely.

Is it for the faint of heart? ….ha…. we are all faint of heart! Only narcissists disagree.