To some greater extent, leaving your steady job (a
guaranteed paycheck and benefits that come with being employed) for the life of
an entrepreneur is about luck and a little gamble. You work to make your startup
succeed, nothing is guaranteed, it will be a small business that means there
will be several months without a salary that sometimes can lead to the start of
money problems and probably sleepless nights. It all about a leap of faith and the
trust will come later; it takes patience, resilience, determination, confidence,
courage and a positive attitude. It also requires a good viable idea, plan to
manage your personal expenses and support yourself (or your family) until the venture
takes off in other words it will take some time before it becomes profitable.
The funny bit is those businesses that build a product that people love often
takes time before they make any money; Google took 2 years before they started
earning revenue from ads.
The question that proves to be the toughest to ask and
answer. Do you have enough money in the bank or have someone to support you,
who are still working, you probably are covered. If you won a lottery or
jackpot, you are good to go. If any of the above scenarios does not apply to
you, you need to think really hard about your strategy to leverage debt and
investor money in order to sustain the venture and your own personal finances. I
can promise you it will be easy but it can be tough sometimes; it’s more of a
roll coaster ride, you are either having the best day or the worst day. The
truth is you will have more black days(You are either on a dead end, Lost you
largest customer and all hope have been sucked out of you, all you can see is
darkness) than goods days, that’s the dark side of entrepreneurship. There is a
possibility of failure not because you have a wrong product or team, but
sometime it might not work due some reasons that are beyond your control. The
thought and desire for success in your start up is what drives many
entrepreneurs, when you might be in helm of a multimillion Dollar company and about
to launch an IPO. An IPO or a buyout is the biggest Jackpot that you can get;
even though some are not in for the money but they have their own reasons why
they build businesses cos what my Mum told me; “no one plays for free.”
Before anyone ventures into entrepreneurship there is need
for some intensive self-reflection in which one asks themselves, Do i need a
job, the viability of the business ideas or am comfortable travelling on the ride
to independence. One needs to weigh the
freedom of being his/her own boss outweighs the short term instability or
anxiety. Considering Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, you can achieve self
actualization by being an entrepreneur.
Check List: Apart from getting yourself mentally prepared
for your new venture, take in consideration; what you need in place to cushion
you from unnecessary hardship. This will increase your chances of success in
your Venture.
Tags:
Entrepreneurship