Seven Things You Should Know Before Becoming An Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur is an amazing feeling, running your own business and taking control of your life – oh and you don’t have to answer to “the man” anymore! However, there are some things that nobody tells you about being an entrepreneur…

1. How Lonely It Can Be!

Whether it’s because entrepreneur’s don’t want to admit it, or they don’t realise it, running a business can be a very lonely life. Especially in the start-up phase, you will spend a lot of time working on and thinking about your business and will often take yourself out of social situations simply to work on it. Depression is also extremely common with 30% of company founders admitting they suffer from it, whilst only 7% of the total population are affected. A whopping 49%of founders suffer from a mental health issue.. Not as glamorous as it seems.

2. An overnight success takes years to build

There is very rarely such thing as an overnight success. Yes, HARO (Help A Reporter Out) reportedly went from 0 to a million dollars and 100,000 subscribers in a few months, but Peter Shankman, HARO’s founder, spent a whole ten years before hand working up to that point. Yes, all of your business may start to flow in at once BUT that does not make it an overnight success, it just means you worked damn hard!

3. You learn as you go

No book, university course or webinar can tell you how to run a business, and most are outdated anyway! You pick up the necessary skills along the way and to start with, you do essentially wing it. But you’re not alone! There is little you can do to prepare for what your business will throw at you, that is why entrepreneur’s are risk takers.

4. You gain more freedom and have more fun

With no big boss to answer to (bar yourself of course), you’re free as a bird! Had a late night? Stay in bed for an extra hour! Want to spend time with your family? You can! Although there is a limit to how much freedom you have (you have to work at some point), it’s still like a weight is off your shoulders as you don’t have to answer to somebody else. Often this is motivational for you to start working harder so you can live like this for longer.

5. It is NOT a 9-5

You will never be able to leave the office, if you have one, at 5 o’clock and not think about your business. Your business will never leave your mind, you will always be thinking about it – what to do next, what the future holds, tasks for tomorrow etc. Your business courses through your veins.

6. There a many “experts” out there, but they may not be right for your business

As a decision maker, you will be inundated with emails and phone calls from people saying they can help you grow your business, they can do this that the other and pigs will fly. It will take a while to sift through the bad eggs to find a golden one, but it will be worth it. Don’t just throw your money at the first person who contacts you, research and find someone who will be right for your business.

7. There is so much support

Although most of the other points have been doom and gloom, this one is the opposite. The support network for entrepreneur’s is incredible. Even if you have no friends, you can join a group for entrepreneur’s or even go to networking groups and guaranteed, there will be people who are willing to lend a hand and support you. There are some fantastic groups across Social Media where you can get advice from marketing your business all the way to legal advice, entrepreneur’s support each other. All you need to do is search on Facebook and LinkedIn for groups and you’re good to go!