Many people I meet wanted to become an Entrepreneur. But what does it take to be one? Is Entrepreneurship for you?
I'm writing this blog because I wanted to inspire a lot of people, who wish to become a businessman or woman but are afraid to take risks. In life there are chances we have to take inevitably, even those we didn't take are risks in itself. Being an Entrepreneur, is such a great risk but may return you a high yield later on.
This post will be a two-part series. I'm going to tackle the common myths of people who would like to try putting up a business. And of course, the advantages of having your own business.
What being an Entrepreneur is not
Common misconceptions in shifting to entrepreneurship
Time
Oftentimes we feel that having a business means you take control of your time. Probably yes, often not. As an employee, we have a fixed working hour. Our work revolves around those hours, except for the time we prepare to go to work and the travel time of course. What's left in between, is the time for ourselves and our family. The thing others do not realize, when someone becomes an Entrepreneur he doesn't get to have that free time anymore. While building your business, it is expected to devote all of your time for its growth. Most entrepreneurs I knew would wake up early and sleep late at night, doing everything for the business to thrive.
Apart from my real business as a supplier of finishing materials for furniture shops, on the side I have an online business which was founded accidentally. You can read my story here . I would wake up in the morning reaching my phone because there is/are notifications from the online shop. There maybe an order placed or inquiries. Likewise, I need to stay up late sorting out ordered items needed to be shipped or looking through my stocks- which needed to be replenished. Stocks that are not fast moving should be selling soon, so I needed to work on marketing them as well.
This is my online shop at almost 11PM, still keeping up with orders and inquiries.
In the morning, before we go out to tend my other business. I have to pack items needed to be delivered for that day. I need to take pictures of the items and send them to the recipient. In between doing those things I also have to look after my three boys getting ready for school.
Money
People think that being an Entrepreneur will give you a lot of money. Yes it will later on, when you learn to reinvest your earnings. What does it mean? Example: you have a business with 5,000 capital and yielded 2,000 worth of profit. One must learn how to reinvest back the income to capital to get higher yield next time and so on, until you were able to grow the business. So more often than not entrepreneurs do not have cash on hand. Their money is invested back to the business.
The Boss
It's nice to think that once you enter into business, you're the boss now. How I wish, many do not know that start up businessmen does all the stuff, even the dirty works in the business. Ultimately, at first you won't get employees when you can do the job on your own, because that would mean one head sharing your profit. A good example would be my online shop, I'm the purchase officer, marketing manager, the secretary, and the packaging assistant. Good thing, the app has tied up with courier service so I don't have problems shipping them. So prepare to be the "Jack of all Trade".
Rich
Being an Entrepreneur is not a quick rich scheme, maybe, maybe not. It has a lot of learning curve, trial and errors especially if no one mentors you. It is a test of patience and determination. It sometimes is a question of faith in yourself. In business, one must be willing to take to face rejections at hand, as you would experience a lot. You have to be thick face especially in sales. Hustle, hustle and more hustle. How does it feel to go back to people who have turned you down? Asked those rich people you know, they would have a lot of stories to tell.
These and many more things, one needs to look at when thinking about being an Entrepreneur. True though, there are a lot of benefits and positive outcomes later on. Still there are questions you need to ask yourself. Are you patient enough to withstand the test of time? Are you committed enough to try and try until you succeed or die trying? Is your heart as hard as rock to go through every rejection and still pursue?
Ask yourself these questions, and if you think you can then you are most ready to become an Entrepreneur.