Jessica Alba Gets Real about Having Breakdowns on Entrepreneurship Journey, Offers Crucial Success Lessons

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, there’s a lot of ups and downs, and it can be pretty overwhelming, even if you are a star and entrepreneur with the reach of Jessica Alba.

So what is the key to success? For Alba, whose Honest Company brand recently received a $200 million investment, it's about never giving up and being extremely patient -- even if it takes years for success to start happening.

In a recent interview with Entrepreneur, Alba discussed starting her business – and the trials and tribulations along the way. In fact she calls it -- and not her acting career -- the biggest risk she’s ever taken. She even admitted to having several major breakdowns during those first few years.

“I hit many roadblocks, false starts, had to find the right business partners and spent time and money on different iterations of the business that didn’t come to fruition,” says Alba.

“It took about four years of struggling before I was able to find the right business partners to even start Honest and get it off the ground. In hindsight, I realize that each lesson that I learned during these years brought me one step closer to making Honest a reality,” says Alba.

Her takeaway was inspiring: With every challenge comes an opportunity to grow and learn.

The evolution of her business and its ultimate success has taught Alba to be brave.

“Anytime I step outside of my comfort zone and into unknown territory, that feels brave to me. It’s brave to know that you're not always going to be successful, but you do it anyways,” she says, hoping to take Honest even more global in the future, taking the company from what was “once a startup into a brand that meets the everyday needs of the modern customer who cares about quality, transparency and effectiveness -- no matter where they live.”

Considering her track record, we believe she is more than capable of doing it.

“Pitching Honest to potential investors was one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced, but even in the face of rejection, I was constantly motivated by my desire to create this company. No one had any expectations of me in business, and it made me more fearless,” Alba said.

Being fearless led to big success. Alba has since appeared on the cover of Forbes’ "Self-Made Women” issue and was named in the top 20 of Fast Company’s "Most Creative People in Business." She’s still an actress, and she’s also an advocate and a New York Times bestselling author.