Many Tough Facts About Being An Entrepreneur
Jan 30
When you set out to become an entrepreneur, you can sometimes feel as if you are jumping off a cliff. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are the most organized person out there, have a degree in logistics and are perfectly well aware of what you want to achieve. You want to know how to make God laugh? All you need to do is say that you have “a plan,” which converts to your quest to be an entrepreneur! The unfortunate truth, as those who have been down the road before you will testify if you ask them seriously, is that you are in for some adventure. Just remember that there is no such thing as a final plan and you will have to keep amending it, even as you find some emotional and psychological strength and have to put up with developing a business during all your waking hours.
Whatever idea you have for a business, think really long and hard. If you think that you can just expand your hobby and make some money from it, without really thinking if you are creating a solution to a real problem, you might be in trouble. Unless you’re able to solve the problem and have some kind of unique approach as well, the sad truth is you are probably going to get swallowed up among the competition. What is your unique selling proposition?
In today’s environment you need to be very creative and understand that you will likely have to give more than you get, especially in the early days. People are always wary about doing business with someone or some business that they do not know and are looking for social proof. Understand that customers should be treated like the gold that they are when they finally come along and you should solicit feedback as often as possible. Always over deliver when it comes to giving value.
Unless you have the luxury of a lot of time and a pot of money behind you, the sad truth of being an entrepreneur is that you’re going to have to be head cook and bottle washer, becoming adept at everything. During the early days you will not have the luxury of being able to outsource and must be very careful when it comes to time management. There are certainly not enough hours in an entrepreneur’s day, so be prepared to work at a minimum 60 hours a week. Are you ready to work seven days a week? You will quickly find that time is worth more than money, which can be very frustrating when you’re devoting much more of that time to operations rather than development.
So long as you have come up with a realistic business model, stay on course and you will be able to document the allocated time, the return that you are currently getting and a common-sense projection for the future. Always be very honest and realistic, however and understand that you need to allocate a certain amount of time every week to annoying issues that will eat into your productivity.
Anchor yourself well and remember that there are always ups and downs in the business. Don’t lose faith however, as everyone would be doing it, if it were easy!
Adam Toren, Co-Founder of Young Entrepreneur, specializes in developing the profitability of struggling businesses with a specialized and ‘bottom line’ approach. Adam, along with his brother, have created, purchased and sold a variety of companies over the years. At the moment, they own and manage a highly successful publishing company and several dedicated online enterprises.