5 Things You Have To Understand About An Entrepreneur Before Dating One

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I recently quit my job to chase my dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Life has become a little more difficult. I work about 16 hours a day on my business, I am always hungry and tired and because of this, dating has become almost impossible.

I moved to Colorado from California as my business Benchmark Intelligence got accepted into the top-tier accelerator Boomtown. I have been out here for a couple of months now, I have dated a few women and I keep running into the same problem. It’s ridiculously hard to date when all my effort is focused on starting a company and raising funding.

Circumstances are different now that I’m trying to start a business versus three months ago when I was working a 9-5. My priorities have shifted dramatically and I have a different outlook on the world. My time is limited and it’s hard to find someone who really understands that I’m doing everything that I can to chase my dreams right now.

Whether you’re a woman or a man chasing his or her dreams of starting a business, there is very little time for dating. Here is how to date an entrepreneur. Please note that I am a feminist and believe women make great entrepreneurs but I am just using “he” to make the reading easier and not have to switch constantly between “he” and “she”.

1. He has multiple priorities

The definition of a priority is something that is regarded as more important than another.

The truth is when you’re an entrepreneur, you’re balancing multiple priorities. You have your business, your family and the other important people in your life. One of the biggest problems entrepreneurs face, or really anybody who is super passionate about something, is finding balance.

Understand that when you’re dating an entrepreneur you are his priority but he also has other priorities in his life. He’s doing his best to balance these priorities, but he may not always be successful in doing so. Just because you don’t feel as though you’re a priority of his, it doesn’t mean you’re not so.

2. His time is limited

As I mentioned earlier, I spend about 16 hours a day working on my business. When you’re chasing your dreams, you have to spend the majority of your time doing so.

So be prepared when you’re dating a guy running a business, that he is spending the majority of his time doing just that. He wants to spend more time with you; it’s just at this point in his life, he has a limited amount of time to share.

This is not a reflection of you. He’d love to spend all day with you if it was physically possible, he just knows that he needs to focus at the task at hand. With that being said, he will be even more appreciative of the time he does spend with you because it will more than likely be the highlight of his day.

3. His mood can change dramatically 


There is a saying that an entrepreneur is someone who jumps from a plane without a parachute, and figures out how to build one on the way down. Being an entrepreneur, like anything else in life, has its highs and lows.

If he just closed a big deal, he will be ecstatic. If he just got a defiant no from an investor who he thought was going to invest and he now has no money to do payroll next week, he’s probably feeling very low. Understand that his mood can change every single day depending on how the business is going. It’s important to remember that whether it’s bad news or good news, you’ll be the first person he wants to share it with.

4. He thinks about you more than he shows


I was dating someone from back home when I first moved out here. I thought about her more than I probably let her know. She eventually moved on because she thought I was too busy and didn’t really think about her at all anymore. The truth is I did think about her, I just had trouble communicating and giving her the attention she craved from me because I was so busy.

When a guy is into you, no matter how busy he is, he thinks about you throughout the day. Sometimes, it’s harder for him to express this if he’s super busy but you must understand that you are on his mind. Don’t be afraid to take the initiative sometimes to send him a text or call because you think he’s too busy; he’ll appreciate even if he is.

5. He usually won’t start making money until later in the business’s life

I sacrificed a good paying job at a chance of making a fortune and creating something special. However, I’m currently in the bootstrapping phase and doing everything I can to minimize cost and increase cash flow, in other words I’m eating a lot of top ramen.

Typically speaking, most entrepreneurs won’t see any amount of income for the first two years of business operation. Just because he is the CEO of a company, even with investors and customers, it doesn’t mean he’s super rich . . . not yet at least.

I promise you that if you stick with him during those hard times while he’s chasing his dreams, he’ll ultimately be thankful for you once everything comes to fruition.