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Things That Can Ruin Your Entrepreneur Spirit

June 11th, 2008 | Author: Jack

1. Uncertainty
Entrepreneurship is uncertain business. When you become self employed you don’t know whether your business will take off or not. But if we never try, how do we ever know? This could especially be a problem in the beginning stages. In a young business it is hard to tell whether our ideas will eventually work out.

The problem with many businesses who fail is that they give up way too early. They totally underestimate what it takes to run a successful business and fail to plan accordingly. Many failures could be avoided, if only proper research were done upfront.

In the end though all we can do is try.

2. Risk of failure
Being afraid isn’t bad as it instills a healthy respect into our conscience. When we are aware of certain challenges in business, we can prepare against them and increase our chances of survival.

Most of us are afraid of things, situations or even people. Being in business for yourself won’t change this. Especially when our own capital is involved we tend to get very scared. The secret here is to plan in stages.

Don’t throw all your venture money into your business upfront. You will be much better served by starting small and expanding from there.

3. Hard work
If somebody ever told you that being an entrepreneur is easy, they were lying. It isn’t easy. What is easy anyway. Picking your nose perhaps. If you want to step into your own entrepreneurial shoes you need to understand that there is hard work involved. Not necessarily hard as in physical, but mental and tiring. Which brings us to the next.

4. Long hours
As an entrepreneur myself I work long hours. While some might say; what is the purpose of slaving away from home with the worries about business, if you can work for a boss instead and do half the work, I understand.

Entrepreneurship is perhaps not the right thing for you then.

But for all the rest of you, think about this. When was the last time you got a pay raise? Or are you one of the not so lucky ones who has to work back regularly for your boss. How about job insecurities, inflation, downsizing, automation, outsourcing? Shall I go on?

To be honest, I rather take my chances with my own business. I actually feel more safe than I ever did being employed for 22 years.

Plus I can give myself a pay raise whenever I feel like it. Come to think about it…

5. Irregular income
There is no doubt about this. Owning your own business will expose you to income fluctuations. It is just the nature of doing business. Depending what industry you launch with, this could be seasonal, dependent on the time of day, or even fueled by an ever changing economy.

As long as you are prepared and put some pennies aside for the slower times you should be fine. Problems start when entrepreneurs burn all their money, thinking it will just keep flowing. While the thought is one I rather like, nature has shown us that it won’t always work that way.

6. No benefits
When I say no benefits I don’t mean tax. As a matter of fact, business owners have huge tax benefits and they should peruse them.

But we don’t get sick pay, holiday pay or even 401k benefits. Life insurance is also another topic to consider, as well as work cover if that exists within your country. Basically any benefits we take for granted as an employee will fall away when we go into business for ourselves. Therefore it is best to be prepared and informed.

That is another reason why you should never sell yourself too cheap. Nobody else will pay your bills for you.

7. Marketing
Ah, the dirty word. Many see marketing as an evil side to doing business. But it doesn’t have to be. You can market yourself without driving away potential customers or clients.

One problem is that hardly anybody is a born marketer. That means we all have to learn and adapt to our industry as an ongoing learning experience. We can’t afford to rest and have to keep our eyes on the ball to stay competitive and in the game.

8. Lack of quality time
Ok, this is a biggie. If you have family, pets or friends that are used to seeing you around on birthdays, Xmas and other common holidays, then you might be in for a shock. Sometimes in business we have to keep working when the world parties.

Yes, I know this is hard and we all face the same tests and tribulations. The thing is, that the earlier you build your business up the quicker you can allow yourself to be back in the party zone whenever you want to (ok maybe not that often).

9. Missing funds
Depending on the business you seek to run you will need some major funds (even if you start small). Sometimes those funds are simply not available to us and that could be the first major hurdle to face as a budding entrepreneur.

Especially in today’s economy, it is getting harder all the time to obtain funds from official sources like banks and credit institutions. But fear no more. Think about alternative ways to get “cashed up”. Short of robbing a bank, think about that rich uncle who might be willing to borrow you the money with interest, or a JV partner that has the money, but no idea on how to run a business. Even a quiet investor who wants to sit back, collect parts of the profits and see you work might do the trick.

In the end it is all about grabbing available opportunities and run with them. During the life cycle of a business there will be mistakes, maybe even failures and tons of headaches, but in the end it can be and is for me the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.

If I haven’t scared you off just yet you might have what it takes to become an entrepreneur after all. Good on you. Grab the opportunity and run with it.