There is this glamorous image of entrepreneurship that seems to be everywhere on screen and print:

• Private jets whisking you off to exotic locales
• Hiring a CEO to run your empire while you lounge on a beach
• Flashy cars and sprawling mansions
• A portfolio of 10 different thriving businesses

The truth is, entrepreneurship is more like:

• Staring into the abyss, wondering if you’ve made the right choice
• Grinding away, working 80 hours a week as you push through endless challenges
• Taking out a second mortgage just to make payroll and keep the lights on
• Dealing with people problems that no business school could prepare you for
• Putting out customer fires left and right
• Always looking over your shoulder at competitors who’d love nothing more than to see you fail
• If you do happen to have some success, find that even the little you are able to earn is so heavily taxed that it seems impossible to get ahead.
  This is more often the everyday reality of owning your own business.

Just like growing your business isn’t about chasing vanity metrics or playing pretend CEO, real success isn’t about the fancy trappings either.

It’s about facing those hard truths head-on and pushing through anyway.

You’ve dealt with the endless difficulties. You’ve seen the ugly side. And you’re still standing.

That’s what real entrepreneurship is about.

As the former International President and CEO of the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) I have witnessed first hand how entrepreneurs all around the world persevere and find a way to succeed.

As Canadians, our responsibility is to hold our governments accountable, to ensure that appropriate and responsible rules and regulations are in place to guide businesses, protect their workers and the environment, while being very aware that entrepreneurs need the latitude and support to flourish, to develop new industries, new jobs, improve productively and create new wealth that benefits the entrepreneur, their employees, and helps Canada as a nation fund our social safety net that we, as Canadians, all value so highly.

Let’s focus on supporting real entrepreneurs by allowing them the freedom to do what they do best. Often if we just get out of their way we all benefit.

Robert E. Kulhawy
Co-Author of the Canadian Creed. He is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, environmentalist and catalyst for social change. He is the President and CEO of Commerx Corporation, a leader in internet and telecom services.