Touch Cleveland - Resources by Touch CLETouch Cleveland - Resources by Touch CLEhttps://www.wetouchmarkets.com/blogs/author/touch-cleTue, 02 Dec 2025 10:00:14 -0800http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[9 Ugly Truths of Entrepreneurship That No One Is Talking About]]>https://www.wetouchmarkets.com/blogs/post/9-ugly-truths-of-entrepreneurshipWe glorify entrepreneurship as the ultimate dream: freedom, financial independence, and the opportunity to make a mark on the world. But behind the filtered images and inspiring quotes lies a darker, less glamorous reality that few people discuss.]]>

We glorify entrepreneurship as the ultimate dream: freedom, financial independence, and the opportunity to make a mark on the world. Social media feeds are filled with success stories of entrepreneurs working from exotic locations, launching products that change industries, or living lives that seem too good to be true. But behind the filtered images and inspiring quotes lies a darker, less glamorous reality that few people discuss. As someone who has experienced these challenges firsthand, I can tell you that the myth of freedom, the struggle to find competent, committed help, the cost of trust, unrelenting pressure, financial instability, isolation and loneliness, mental health struggles, the identity trap, and the five-year roadblock are all part of the journey.

Freedom of entrepreneurship

 1. The Myth of Freedom

One of the biggest selling points of entrepreneurship is the promise of freedom: being your boss and setting your schedule. However, the reality is that most entrepreneurs end up working longer and harder than they ever did in a traditional job. Emails, client calls, or the never-ending to-do list consume evenings, weekends, and even vacations. Freedom exists—but it's often a long way down the road. 

Entrepreneurs convince themselves that their freedom is guaranteed once they have a team, only to end up working twice as much.

2. The Struggle to Find Competent, Committed Help

One of the most frustrating realities of entrepreneurship is the need for skilled, reliable people who are invested in your business's success. Hiring employees or freelancers who genuinely care about your mission is rare, especially in today's gig economy. Naturally, most workers are there to collect a paycheck or use your business as a stepping stone to gain experience for their ventures. The revolving door of talent can be exhausting, requiring you to constantly be on board and train new people while still trying to move your business forward. This lack of alignment can stunt growth and leave you feeling like no one cares as much about your vision as you do—which is often the case.


3. The Cost of Trust: Employee Misconduct and Its Ripple Effect

Employees can become one of the biggest sources of frustration for entrepreneurs. Issues like stealing time, calling off work without notice, missing deadlines, or infiltrating your organization just to learn your processes before leaving, can wreak havoc on your operations. These behaviors disrupt productivity and erode trust, leaving you second-guessing every hiring decision. Over time, this repeated cycle can lead to major trust issues, making it even harder to identify and hire the right people in the future. The emotional and operational toll of dealing with unreliable or opportunistic employees can feel like a constant uphill battle, further complicating the already challenging business journey.


4. Unrelenting Pressure

Entrepreneurs live with the constant pressure of being accountable for every aspect of their business. Whether it's meeting payroll, closing a deal, or managing a team, the responsibility stops with you. This weight can suffocate your business, especially during lean periods when the stakes are highest. Many entrepreneurs suffer in silence, unwilling to admit they're struggling for fear of appearing weak or unprepared.


5. Financial Instability

Entrepreneurship often requires a leap of faith—and significant financial risk. If things go south, there's no guaranteed paycheck, no employer-sponsored benefits, and no safety net. Many entrepreneurs burn through savings, take on personal debt, or rely on family and friends to keep their dreams alive. The stress of financial uncertainty can lead to sleepless nights and strained relationships.

6. Isolation and Loneliness

​Being an entrepreneur can feel like being on an island. When you're the one responsible for the big decisions, there's no boss or colleague to turn to for reassurance. Friendships can strain under the weight of your unpredictable schedule, and family relationships may take a hit as your work-life balance tips heavily toward "work." This isolation is more than just emotional and can stifle creativity and problem-solving. With a supportive network to bounce ideas off of, you may find freedom from the echo chamber of your own thoughts.

7. Mental Health Struggles

The combination of isolation, financial stress, and unrelenting pressure takes a toll on mental health. Anxiety and depression are common among entrepreneurs. The culture of hustle and grind often leaves little room for vulnerability, perpetuating the stigma around mental health in the business world. Entrepreneurs are notorious for wearing multiple hats, from CEO to marketer to janitor. Yet, the constant juggling act can lead to burnout—a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that leaves you questioning why you started in the first place. Yet, many push through the burnout, driven by the fear of letting their team, investors, or clients down.


8. The Identity Trap

For many entrepreneurs, their business becomes their identity. The highs of success feel euphoric, but the lows can be devastating. A failed venture often feels like a personal failure, making it hard to separate self-worth from business performance. This identity trap can make stepping away, pivoting, or even taking a much-needed break difficult.


9. The Five-Year Roadblock: Outgrowing the Help Around You

After running your business for five years or more, you may hit a frustrating roadblock: the realization that you've outgrown most of the available resources and advice. While many organizations mean well, their focus is often on startups, offering programs and support tailored to businesses in their infancy. Resources are scarce for those beyond the five-year mark, and the staff at these organizations often need to gain firsthand experience in growing a business beyond this stage. This gap leaves you navigating uncharted territory with limited guidance, emphasizing the need to rely on your instincts and problem-solving skills. The result? Well, you're left feeling more competent and experienced than many people who claim they can help, but this only makes it harder to find the proper support to break through to the next level.


Self care isn't selfish

The Silver Lining


Despite these challenges, entrepreneurship remains a deeply rewarding journey for many. But to thrive, it's crucial to address the ugly sides head-on:

  • Build a Support Network: Connect with fellow entrepreneurs who understand your struggles. Peer groups, mentors, or trusted therapists can make a huge difference. 
  • Prioritize Self-Care: Protect your mental and physical health by setting boundaries, taking breaks, and seeking help when needed. Remember, you are the most valuable asset to your business, and taking care of yourself is not a luxury, but a necessity. 
  • Redefine Success: Success isn't just about profit; it's about building a sustainable life and business. Celebrate small wins and focus on the long game. By redefining success on your own terms, you can free yourself from the pressure of meeting conventional expectations and find joy in the journey.
  • Be Honest About Challenges: Share your struggles as openly as your triumphs. Vulnerability fosters connection and reminds others (and yourself) that you're human. 

Entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, and that's okay. It's messy, unpredictable, and often downright ugly. But by embracing its realities—both the good and the bad—you can navigate the journey with resilience, self-awareness, and maybe even a little grace.


What are the challenges you've faced as an entrepreneur? Let's start an honest conversation.

Share Your Story Below!
]]>Mon, 09 Dec 2024 21:53:31 -0500<![CDATA[Five Laws You Should Know Before Doing Business in Ohio]]>https://www.wetouchmarkets.com/blogs/post/Five-Laws-You-Should-Know-Before-Doing-Business-in-OhioIt is said you are not really in business until you get sued. In business you certainly cannot please everyone so the likelihood of a client or custom ]]>
It is said you are not really in business until you get sued. In business you certainly cannot please everyone so the likelihood of a client or customer taking legal action increases as your company expands and takes on more employees. While a lawsuit may be an implicit attainment of success, it is a milestone that can be avoided by knowing the laws of the state(s) your company is registered in. 

For Ohio, the Consumer Sales Practice Act of 1972 protects consumers from businesses that take advantage. The Act ensures consumers are not asked to do unfair or deceptive actions for a purchase; the Act makes it illegal for a seller to misrepresent their business, product, service or the price of their transaction; the Act prohibits a seller from taking advantage of those illiterate or mentally disabled. The Act even prohibits sellers from selling a product or service to a consumer they know cannot afford or benefit from the purchase. Lastly, the Act requires sellers to honor guarantees, warranties and protects consumers from deceptive advertising. 


When it comes to advertising, here are five laws you should learn and practice from year 1 in business. 
  1. Gift Cards – As a small business growing your customer base, you may want to offer gift cards to your customers. Gift cards are a great way to influence a purchase for a buyer unsure of what to get for a friend or loved one, and they are a popular purchase during the holidays to save time.  Under Ohio law, a gift card should not have an expiration date less than two years of the date it was issued.  For a startup, the risk of this two-year requirement for expiration is the possibility of no longer offering that product or service by the time the gift card is redeemed. 
  2. Rain Checks – In the age of social media, startups and entrepreneurs are notorious for offering sales online or as vendors at local events. If your business promotes a sale, you must list specific limitations such as “limited number in stock” or “while supplies last.” Otherwise if the seller runs out of the sale item, the consumer is entitled to a rain check – a ticket that will allow them to purchase the item at the sale price advertised whenever you have the item in stock again. 
  3. Prizes – Ohio law prohibits advertising that a consumer has won a prize and then requiring the consumer to pay fees or perform any action to receive the prize. All terms and conditions of the prize offered must be disclosed in the advertisement. 
  4. Repair and Service Rules – For any repair or service $25 or more, the seller must provide an estimate or notice of the consumer’s right to receive an estimate. If the total cost is found to be 10 percent or more of the estimate, the seller must get the consumer’s signed permission before beginning additional work. 
  5. CAN-SPAM Act – In business, your contact list is king. In today’s age of technology, email marketing is still one of the top ten methods to advertise to your target audience. However the CAN-SPAM Act bans deceptive subject lines and requires an individual or business to provide an easy way for the consumer to opt-out of email messages. 


    While these laws are the most significant that businesses need to be compliant with, there are more specific laws that apply to certain industries. To learn more about business and advertising laws, visit Complying with Ohio Consumer Law: A Guide for Businesses. 
    ]]>    Thu, 06 Apr 2023 15:00:00 -0400    <![CDATA[Four Mistakes Companies Make When Marketing to Minorities]]>https://www.wetouchmarkets.com/blogs/post/four-mistakes-companies-make-when-marketing-to-minoritiesAs diversity and inclusion have become more prevalent in today’s society, more and more organizations and institutions are making an effort to establi ]]>

    As diversity and inclusion have become more prevalent in today’s society, more and more organizations and institutions are making an effort to establish social equality and equity as a priority in the workplace. Now more than ever, it has become increasingly important to position one’s brand as forward-thinking, progressive and socially conscious to satisfy consumer’s desire for sustainable, cultural change. But within the last decade, some may say these words have become nothing more than buzzwords to appeal to minority audiences. While many organizations have made noble efforts to become more diverse and inclusive, stereotypical archetypes have emerged that have created false ideas of what “minority” looks like, and the advertisements these organizations present project these fictitious images. In defense of these actions, most marketing companies rely on statistics to identify a target audience to create customer profiles, but those research results are typically rooted in prejudice and biases. 

    Here are four of the most common mistakes companies and organizations make, but should avoid, when marketing to minorities:

    1.  When marketing to a Black women or Black families, the woman is always of a lighter complexion with loose curly hair. While this hair texture is more commonly associated with multiracial or Hispanic women, loose curly hair is not most common among African-American women. Furthermore, in this politically acceptable version of a Black middle-class family, the father is typically dark skin, clean-shaven and dressed in a professional or businesslike fashion. This depiction of the typically Black woman and man embraces the concept of colorism that African-American communities has continually denounced due to its insinuation that only one shade of Black is politically and socially acceptable. 


    Image: ABC/Nicole Wilder

     

    2.  In photographs promoting the organization’s product or service, there is always the “token minority.” These are the single individuals representing their racial group as a marketing tactic to express diversity and show the company’s commitment to inclusiveness. When attempting to show a diverse group, the company in its commercial, movie or photograph will most often include two white males, two white women, a male or female of Asian, Indian or Hispanic descent, and the typical Black woman and Black man as described in mistake one. Minority audiences can easily identify the ploy being presented and begin to view the advertisement as disingenuous and deceitful. 


    Image: Monkey Business

     

    3.  When including Hispanic women in advertisements, companies tend to oversexualize them and depict them as “spicy” Latina women. In commercials and photographs, these women typically wear a short, tight dress, showing off a curvaceous body, and speak in a low tone with her Spanish accent while seducing the consumer into buying or using the product or service.


    Image: Facebook/Pepsi

     

    4.  When advertising to people of Asian descent, marketers tend to include chopsticks, pandas or dragons in the logo or as symbols in commercials even when the “Asian theme” does not fit the company’s brand. Rooted in racial stereotypes, this practice is not only disrespectful to people who identify as Asian but can come across as nonsensical and bizarre as well. While the goal may be to relate to the target audience, the advertisement is viewed as distasteful and insincere. 


    Image: Dolce & Gabbana

    While organizations may be prioritizing efforts to become more diverse and inclusive, it has become abundantly clear that many businesses still lack workplace diversity which leads to the production of racially insensitive advertisements. These advertisements harm and disrespect not only specific cultures and minority groups but society as a whole as well. Advertisements can and will become less stereotypical only once there is more diversity within the company itself. Businesses and organizations that take better care in establishing awareness and understanding of cultural norms and diverse experiences will be able to better market to and grasp the attention of minority audiences. 

    ]]>    Wed, 01 Mar 2023 11:30:00 -0500    <![CDATA[The Digital Age is Changing Community Outreach Marketing, and it could help or hinder Non-Profits]]>https://www.wetouchmarkets.com/blogs/post/the-digital-ageThe Digital Age is Changing Community Outreach Marketing, and it could help or hinder Non-Profits.]]>

    What happens when organizations that rely heavily on community support begin to see their non-profit peers charge them to spread the word?


    “Sure, we’ll help distribute your message about this extremely valuable resource to the communities and groups we also claim to support but first you must pay us!” Sounds a bit harsh, but it is a rather sarcastic way of paraphrasing actual responses my team and I have heard in our line of work.


    Non-profit organizations thrive with low-cost creative strategies that can make a big impact. To afford the luxury of having a marketing and advertising budget, non-profits must fundraise. However, fundraising also requires dollars to reach donors. It becomes quite the paradox. The simplest and most cost-effective method to meet these goals is through community partnerships and outreach.


    Medium.com defines community outreach marketing as “the standard strategic way to help increase awareness about your products or services. It is a strategy for searching out organizations or groups that have a shared or dependent interest in what your business has to offer.” Precisely. Yet the digital age is changing the way non-profit organizations work together. Everyone wants to monetize their social platforms. What was once a no-cost request, is now requiring orgs to rethink where their advertising dollars will go.


    The evolution of technology coupled with the new norm of socializing virtually has given non-profits a new way to earn capital. Organizations with a huge social media following and newsletter subscribers are turning to an influencer style of helping their partners, stakeholders, and non-profit peers.


    Let’s take a moment to reflect here. As always, there are two sides to every story. You can’t help but to give kudos to the non-profits that have successfully created another revenue stream by monetizing their digital audiences. On the contrary, non-profits with smaller audiences and limited capital are further stretched and puzzled with deciding how to allocate their budgets. Should they spend their money on advertising externally or hire someone internally to grow their own audience? Adding to the dilemma is determining where you will get the greatest return on your investment. Do you spend with non-profits that have a similar target audience or with major publications that are less targeted but reaching the masses?


    I would say, do all the above. Establishing a not-for-profit operation does not mean your organization should not be profitable. All ethical methods for earning revenue should be explored. Non-profits should reconsider the value of their marketing and digital teams and explore how growing those departments can help them better reach their desired audiences more effectively. I have found spreading your dollars among multiple channels is more effective than investing large sums of money with just a few outlets.


    Nevertheless, for every cause there is an effect. Consequently, the non-profits that want to step into this game are going to have to be ready to deliver metrics like the pros. If you’re charging for eblasts or social media posts, you should be ready and willing to share your metrics. Here are a few data points that you should collect and deliver:

      • How many people are on your list?
      • Are you able to segment your list by demographics or interests?
      • What percentage of your database opens your emails?
      • What is the average click-through rate of those who open your emails?
      • What were the demographics of those that responded to the email?


    If you have no idea how to answer any of the questions above, you are probably not ready to charge for your digital currency. This new way of spreading the word is also trickling down to non-profits needing to establish formal partner agreements as issues and laws surrounding cyber conduct are growing rapidly.  In other words, before you begin charging to post on your digital platform, check-in with your insurance company and your lawyer.

    “We have certainly begun to explore new ways to enhance our sponsorship offerings with for-profit organizations,” says Alyssa Perna, Managing Director at Ingenuity Cleveland. “One of our partners wanted to promote an educational program geared towards supporting creative entrepreneurship which is also our core audience. We added dedicated social media posts and newsletter blurbs into their package. This was a win-win scenario,” says Perna. “We earned more sponsorship dollars while driving awareness about an initiative beneficial to both Ingenuity and our partners audiences.”

    I am personally interested to see how the evolution of technology will begin to blur the lines of ethics for non-profit organizations. I would encourage not-for-profit organizations to utilize this new way of community outreach marketing to gain revenue from the for-profit stakeholders they support. When it comes to your non-profit peers, there should be a more mutually beneficial arrangement. After all, almost all non-profits are engaged in supporting causes that are closely tied to one another and targeting the same individuals and communities. Where one organization fails, those connected to similar missions fail too. Cleveland area organizations are long overdue for learning how to move forward together to maximize their individual efforts. The last thing we need is our non-profits competing for dollars and attention.
    ]]>    Thu, 02 Feb 2023 11:00:00 -0500