Do you really need a $1 million investment to start a $1 million company?

[This is a guest post from our wonderful marketing manager, Andrew!]

Do you really need a $1 million investment to start a $1 million company? Nope.

The media has a way of creating this perception that in order to launch a multi-million-dollar company, you’ll need a huge investment from some hot-shot angel investor from Silicon Valley.  This couldn’t be further from the truth, but if we dissect the reasoning behind your understanding, then quite honestly, it makes sense to believe it.

I bet you have heard the term, “startup.”  Well, there used to be a time when no one really used that word.  Starting a business was simply known as starting a business.  Now that we have huge success stories of unicorn companies like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Whatsapp, or Uber, countless hungry entrepreneurs make their way to Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, CA hoping to wow an audience of billionaire investors and suddenly find themselves running the “next big thing.”  Wait a second, what happened to just starting a successful business?  What happened to taking a simple passion, monetizing it, building wealth for yourself and living the dream?

So many eager entrepreneurs are caught up in this idea that they need to create a “startup,” and that this requires them to run around pitching ideas to investors to try and get money to build their product.  On top of this, so many other eager entrepreneurs who fear they lack the know-how or the skill sets to start a business start thinking that they would never be able to go out and raise millions of dollars for a startup and therefore they give up on their dream of running a successful company.

So many people don’t even realize what goes into these companies that make headline news.  It seems so glamorous, doesn’t it?  However, when you invite investors to help fund an idea, you are inviting people to own your company.  This process also involves lawyers, advisors, a board of directors, and probably a bunch of partners.  Once all of these people get involved, you start to lose control, and they will expect you to turn your business into a giant because they are expecting a return on their investment.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t do it or that you can’t do it.  This is just a reminder that you don’t need to do it in order to be a millionaire.  You don’t need to do it in order to create a very successful business for yourself.  If you have an idea, or if you have a passion, you can monetize it and you can generate wealth for yourself and live the life that you want to live.

Stop worrying about what you see on SharkTank.  Start focusing on your own path to monetizing your genius.