This Slam was written in 2017 at an EO (Entrepreneur Organization) Seattle retreat. It was my first poetry slam. I was freaked out. I had 30 minutes to write it. The crowd was kind. Reading this to 150 other entrepreneurs was a proud, vulnerable and emotional moment.

Becoming an Entrepreneur
by Russell Benaroya

Looking down or looking up

What I knew is that I would never be the same.

It was my time.

And I didn’t need to validate, corroborate or pontificate.

It was my time.

Because becoming an entrepreneur takes balls and falls and walls that are either going to keep pressing you in or give you a challenge to ascend.

I was on eeeaasssyyy street,

Tracking to my parents’ expectations, to their perception of what it means to be their son in the Jewish religion.

Not a doctor or a lawyer, but an investment banker.

Maybe I was just a faker because deep down I wanted more.

I needed more.

I demanded more.

It was…2004….

I wasn’t poor but I was standing at the door of making a decision that would change my life and the life of my wife.

And the next 13 years of some celebration but a lot of strife.

So yeah, have there been times when I could cut the air like a knife,

When I felt suffocated, berated and downright deflated?

Yes, but it’s my life.

And making a decision to be an entrepreneur I do not take for granted

Even though my reality gets a little slanted.

Why the ride?

Because if I didn’t I might die inside and where would I hide being my own guide?

So for you?

It is time that I confide…

The moment I decided to become an entrepreneur created a wild ride and yes there have been many times that I have sighed and even cried.

But I am alive and still have a journey ahead before I arrive.

Or have I arrived?