Entrepreneurship Isn’t What You Think
It Takes A Lot Of Work And Requires A Lot From You
Thanks to visible entrepreneurs like Gary V entrepreneurship has become a hot topic among various generations around the world. The idea of doing what you love and talking about it on camera has elevated the position of entrepreneur to the level of celebrity status. Unfortunately, for every entrepreneur like Gary V there are a ton of entrepreneurs that are working just as hard as Gary but don’t have the exposer that he has. If you looking to become an entrepreneur, it’s important to know that you must be ready to accept the following:
It Requires Commitment
When taking on the title of entrepreneur, it’s important to understand that no matter what you’re selling you most remain committed.
I originally learned this lesson while living in Columbus, Ohio where I had the opportunity to meet Gary Jones. Gary is the true definition of commitment as I’ve seen him wake up everyday with the commitment to assist anyone looking to stand out or fit in through fashion. If you’ve ever lived in Ohio during the winter months I think you would agree that the weather can be brutal. Not for Gary, I’ve seen him wake up and take on the weather because he wouldn’t let anything stand in front of what he is committed to do. Because of Gary’s commitment, he has worked hard to have his brand featured at fashion shows in Arizona and styling MLB champions.
Most of us aren’t willing to commit to a singular idea for very long. We may commit today but later find an idea that feels better tomorrow. It’s important that an entrepreneur commits to a single vision in order to achieve some level of success.
It Requires Responsibility
Responsibility is key when wearing the title of Entrepreneur. I believe I’m not alone when I say that entrepreneurs are not only responsible for their daily decisions but also the overall performance of their company.
Every quarter I sit down and review the performance of my company. During this time, it’s important to find out if what I’m doing on a daily basis is helping or hurting the company I love. The difficult part of this review is when I find out that my daily actions isn’t having a positive impact on my company’s performance. It’s in this moment I have to make the responsible decision to delegate the task to someone better or eliminate it completely.
These are the type of decisions you will have to make throughout your company’s life if you want to be an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, most of us don’t embrace these hard decisions and we continue to accept the responsibility of managing a job or department at most.
It Requires Risk Taking
If you haven’t realized by now, an entrepreneur must consider taking risks. I’m not afraid to admit that for me taking risks is scary and I sometimes choose the safer option.
When I first started NicheOnline.net I was short on cash and clients. When you’re just starting a business, risky opportunities seem to be plentiful and tend to disguise themselves as best practices. My risky decision was to decide if I was going to boost my client list through discounting my web development service. I justified this opportunity by thinking if I get them in the door at a cheaper rate now I can build my list quickly. The discounting method did work, but only in the short-term. Looking back the decision to discount not only was a risky decision but it also left me with a client list that didn’t value my service enough to pay more. This risky decision became the first of many that I’ve encountered and even when it didn’t workout as planned I ended up learning a valuable lesson.
Risky decisions are apart of becoming an entrepreneur. When you’re faced with a risky opportunity you must do so with both a short-term and long-term view before moving forward. However, it is also fine to sit still and not follow through with a risky move if you don’t have the right feeling about it.