No, Kylie Jenner is not “Self Made.” Here’s Why That Matters.

Behold the new face of Millennial entrepreneurship.”

You may have seen the social media freak out about the 20 year old (21 next month) being worth $900,000,000…and is expected to eclipse the $1 billion mark shortly. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg didn’t reach the $1 billion mark until he was 23. So the click bait headline describes this “self made” billionaire, supposedly a fresh new face in emerging business.

Here’s why that just doesn’t hold up to facts.

Look, I’ve always been annoyed by the Kardashian clan, but don’t see that it does much good in the world to complain about a family who used the middle daughter’s sex tape to rocket themselves to fame, run through divorces like a Wisconsin construction worker slams beers after a hot day in the sun, and otherwise make low IQ behavior sexy.

Whatever. I don’t actually like Drake either, and he makes a pile of cash off of his overstuffed, bland Scorpion album. I hate the Chicago Cubs with a burning passion, but I know that tends of thousands of people depend on the team for their full time or freelance employment in one way or another. So this isn’t about wishing anyone harm.

Instead, we need to talk about how we talk about business.

Kylie Jenner is not “self made” because:

1. She basically built a franchise on the brand that Kim launched, via Kim’s uhhh…“personal activities” with a d-level R&B singer hitting the internet.
2. Kylie’s net worth is based on how much “free advertising” the business gets via her millions of social media followers (even her dogs have 500,000 fans). But net worth implies transferable wealth…and she couldn’t sell her cosmetics business and have it maintain her worth…any more than Joe Rogan could “sell” his uber popular podcast to a media company, and stop hosting it. On the flip side, Zucks could sell his Facebook shares right now and his company would continue.
3. Kylie is in the business of herself, the same way Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is in the business of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson every time he puts out a summer blockbuster where he’s fighting a flying wolf or whatever. The Rock is not an entrepreneur, he’s a celebrity. Nothing wrong with that. Ditto with Kylie, who’s a spokesperson for brands that other people actually run. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s call it what it is.

Here’s the conclusion of all of this. More people than ever want to start a business. And since the US economy rises and falls on the number of new businesses, it’s important to everyone that those of us who are risk takers are actually taking those risks.

But the media creates a false flag when they report on a trust fund baby being “self made” because other people figured out how to make money off of her Instagram. It gives the illusion that success should come fast and with lots of fame, or you did something wrong as an entrepreneur.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here’s reality. I spent the first six months of full time entrepreneurship thrashing around and making a lot of mistakes. Then I spent three months surviving, because I took over basically all household duties as Amanda’s first trimester was really difficult.

The last three months have been amazing. The processes have started to really come together (which is only because I dropped a lot of balls to learn how to do stuff), and I have every reason to be optimistic about growth of the rest of 2018.

These days, I have a lot of conversations with people who want to start something. I’m always clear eyed and sober about it. You’ll work 80 hours a week for the first few years. Hobbies will cease. You’ll miss a ton of social events in the short term.

And if you’re truly built for it…you’ll smile through the adversity and find a way through against all the odds.

Kylie Jenner did none of this.

We need more real, grimy entrepreneurship stories.

And more people willing to embrace the grit and pain.

But be warned, it’s nothing like what Kylie’s Instagram is portraying.

Which should make it more, not less, attractive. You have one short and wild life. If you don’t want to spend it sitting at a desk, with an idiot boss, counting down the seconds until 5pm…don’t.

Step into the arena and stake your claim. Just realize how bloody the battle to the top is going to get.