Whoever thinks you can have it all (at once) when you’re an entrepreneur … is probably not an entrepreneur. It’s tough work. If you’re a parent, add on the likelihood of making a few messes along the way. Sallie talks about what she traded off to get Ellevest off the ground in the video below.
Sallie’s answer:
Time, money, sanity, peace of mind. Most start-ups fail. The majority of start-ups fail, and the trade-offs are really substantial in order to start a business.
And so, in exchange for time, peace of mind, et cetera, you get to be enormously creative. You get to build something from nothing. You get to build the company that you always wanted to work at, or be part of building the company at which you always wanted to work.
You get to refine, and refine, and refine a product that starts off being “Eh,” to something that clients and customers are just simply delighted by.
There’s nothing like it in the world, but make no mistake, I didn’t have these wrinkles before I started Ellevest. I just didn’t. I was super smooth.