The Truth About Entrepreneurial Bravery

This post is part of "The Entrepreneur's Safari" – a series of candid reflections exploring the entrepreneurial journey of building Complete Safaris with my Kenyan partner, alongside lessons learned from leadership and business development.

Not brave.

That's the honest answer when someone says "I can't believe you started your own business. You're so brave." The response that forms somewhere behind the smile is quieter and more complicated than brave.

Here's what actually happened.

November: The Path Appears

Kenya. November 2023. Traveling as a tourist, absorbing everything, asking every question. Anthony, who had been guiding travelers through Kenya for 30 years, said somewhere in the middle of all of it: "We could go into business together."

It didn't land the way you'd expect a life-changing moment to land. There was no lightning bolt. No immediate "yes, absolutely, let's do this." In fact, the words didn't even register in the moment. It took that night, lying in bed, when Dave said quietly: "You know, you could do that." And the response was: "Do what?" He said: "Go into business with Anthony." And just like that, something that hadn't landed in the moment settled somewhere permanent.

Practicing being brave!

December: The Tide Turns

Then there was a moment at work that December. A leader who had spoken openly about her values didn't live up to them in a way that mattered. It wasn't instantaneous - no dramatic exit, no immediate clarity. But something shifted. The six figure salary that had felt like a reason to stay started feeling like a different kind of cost.

The plan, such as it was, remained modest: build Complete Safaris quietly in the background. Keep the job. See what happens.

February and April: The Compulsion Wins

Notice handed in February. Last day in April.

Two days later, on a plane to Nairobi. Alone.

This is the part where bravery gets complicated.

The trip was a business trip, not a tourist experience. Anthony and the plans for Complete Safaris were the reason for being there. But as circumstances had it, Anthony was prevented from getting to me for four days. Four days navigating Nairobi independently, staying in an Airbnb that would never appear in any Complete Safaris recommendation - not because Kenya isn't safe, but because the tourist experience is carefully designed for international travelers for good reason, and that design existed for exactly this kind of moment.

Then the power went out. For more than 24 hours. (A brief note for future Complete Safaris clients: every accommodation we use is equipped with backup power sources. Power disruptions occasionally occur in East Africa, but our travelers rarely notice more than a blip. An independent Airbnb has no such guarantee.)

Sitting alone in a dark apartment in a foreign country, navigating tremendous uncertainty, is not bravery. It's just what happens when the path you're on requires you to keep walking. At some point, to reset my brain, there was nothing left to do but put on music and dance like an idiot in the living room.

Then I got an Uber and went to do sales calls on corporate hotel offices in giant Nairobi high rises.

Nauseous with uncertainty. Completely alone. Making cold sales calls in a foreign country.

If that sounds brave, consider that there wasn't a choice that felt like a choice.

The work was there. The only option was to do it. And somewhere in the middle of those sales calls, something unexpected happened: the feeling of pushing through genuine uncertainty and discomfort - doing familiar work in deeply unfamiliar territory - turned into something that felt almost like confidence. Almost.

Working in a Kenyan cafe.

May: The Line That Held Everything Together

Back home. Complete Safaris was real enough now that a potential client wanted to hand over a deposit check.

She was ready. Enthusiastic. Kept insisting.

The check stayed in her purse.

Not because there was hesitation about the business, or about Kenya, or about what Complete Safaris could deliver. But because there was no business insurance yet. And under no circumstance - not client enthusiasm, not the pressure of a first real booking, not the desire to finally have something to show for all of it - could that check be accepted without the right protections in place.

So the uncomfortable, unfamiliar, tedious work of figuring out business insurance got done. Not bravely. Because even when someone is a trusted friend who wants nothing more than to hand you a check and book a safari, the right protections have to exist before you can ask anyone to trust you with their dream trip.

The Honest Answer

When someone says "you're so brave," the complicated truth is this: the path appeared and walking it didn't feel optional. There were moments of genuine fear, of dancing alone in a dark apartment to reset a panicking brain, of doing sales calls while nauseous, of sitting with a deposit check that couldn't be accepted yet.

None of that was brave. It was compelled. It was the reality that even when someone is a trusted friend who wants nothing more than to hand you a check and book a safari, the right protections have to exist before you can ask anyone to trust you with their dream trip. One foot in front of the other on a path that had apparently been there all along.

Brave implies a choice. This felt more like inevitability dressed up as courage.

One year later, a billboard in Camp Hill PA.

Your Turn

For entrepreneurs and those considering the leap:

• What moment started a thought you couldn't stop thinking?

• Is there a difference between bravery and compulsion in how you've made your biggest decisions?

• What ethical line have you held even when it would have been easier to cross it?

• What does "no choice that felt like a choice" look like in your own life?

The Complete Safaris experience is designed so that none of our clients ever navigate Kenya alone, uncertain, or without someone who knows exactly what to do next. That's not a feature. It's the whole point. Start the conversation here.