Stop Believing These 10 Myths About Starting a Business
The rules you’ve been told aren’t real. Here’s what works instead.
When I started my first café, people warned me I was crazy. No MBA, three kids at home, and a budget that made shoestrings look luxurious. Even now with my law firm, I get cautionary tales thrown at me frequently. However, after more than a decade in my own businesses, I discovered that most of the “rules” about entrepreneurship are simply myths.
Here are 10 of the most common lies founders repeat—and the truths that might give you permission to begin or grow bigger.
1. Kids Make Great CEOs
Myth: Only MBAs can run a business.
Some of today’s top founders started out straight from high school or from low-level jobs. Their edge wasn’t spreadsheets. It was people skills, patience, and the ability to explain complicated things. Plus, they come with a healthy level of naivety that makes them more tolerant of risk.
2. Progress Beats Perfection
Myth: You must wait for the perfect idea.
A colleague told me she spent five months polishing a workshop before launch, with zero sales. Then she offered it free, collected feedback, reshaped it, and sold out her next round. Progress beats perfection.
3. Why I Was Home by 3:00
Myth: Entrepreneurship means working 24/7.
When I opened my café, people assumed I was chained to the espresso machine. Instead, I hired a manager from the very beginning. That choice let me be home by 3:00 when my kids came through the door.
4. Canva Counts as Capital
Myth: You need a large pile of capital.
A designer I know started her studio with a laptop and Canva. She launched service packages instead of inventory. Each client funded the next experiment. No pitch decks. No outside money. Revenue moved her forward.
5. When Silence Cost a Designer Her Brand
Myth: Marketing is sleazy, so you can skip it.
A jewelry artist lost her best-selling line to a copycat. She’d never marketed or trademarked it. Her competitor did both, copied her work and won the market. Staying invisible cost her ownership of her own work.
6. Why I Never Painted the Café Walls
Myth: You have to do everything yourself.
When I bootstrapped my café, I didn’t design the logo or paint the walls. I hired a consultant. My role was vision and growth, not font choices. Having it all does not mean doing it all.
7. The Calendar Trick Happy Founders Use
Myth: Work–life balance doesn’t exist for founders.
The happiest business owners I know block out personal time on their calendars. Clients learn to respect it. Those boundaries keep the work—and the life—sustainable.
8. Profit Pays for Scholarships
Myth: Profit equals greed.
Profit funds generosity. One Etsy founder I know runs a profitable shop and uses surplus to fund scholarships for single moms. Profit amplified her mission. It didn’t corrupt it.
9. The Invoice That Never Got Paid
Myth: Legal
and accounting can wait until you grow.
A founder called me after losing a five-figure payment. She had no contract. “I thought contracts were for real businesses,” she admitted. By the time we set one up, the money was gone. Waiting cost more than structure.
10. The Painter Who Learned About Moats
Myth: Systems kill spontaneity.
A painter refused to send contracts for licensing deals. Then she found her designs on tote bags—without her name. No royalties. No recourse. Now every collaboration begins with an agreement. Systems didn’t smother her art. They protected it.
TL;DR
The myths are loud, but they’re not true.
You don’t need permission, perfection, or pedigree. You need to just start, fortify your business with proper protections and keep building a business that feels like you.
Sonya