Being self employed is very different to being employed somewhere. If you're employed you can set your expectation realistically as long as you know your employer. When you're self employed I agree with you that your expectations should be low so that you don't end up demotivated and disappointed. And as you said, planning is very important. Being someone who is in process of opening a business I agree that without planning you'll definitely fail..
Thank you for sharing!
Yes, sadly a lot of people are interested in freelancing or opening a business because they think of all the freedom and spontaneity, and they expect to succeed fast because of those things.
However, both freelancing and opening a business require a lot of planning, more than I anticipated when I first started. If you don't make sure you have at least some things figured out for the near future, it's gonna be really hard to sustain yourself by hoping things will be great just because you work really hard.
Good luck with your business!