Should you be an Entrepreneur?

On days like today, I really appreciate what I do for a living. The weather was simply spectacular, sunny 68 degrees with a lovely breeze. It feels good to know that I don’t have to be confined to an office all day. However, weather shouldn’t be the only thing to consider when deciding if you should become an entrepreneur.

Many times when people think of entrepreneurs or new businesses, they automatically assume tons of money and easy success, but for the most part that is completely wrong (unless you are talking about High School Musical). Moreover, even, in my articles, when reading the ventures it probably seems easy to accomplish the task on paper. Although the actual business you are running might be quite simple (pooper scooper business), it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to turn that business into a cash machine. You have to locate all the capital, advertise, manage, blah blah blah. The list goes on.

Another fallacy about entrepreneurship is that you barely have to work, when that is almost the complete opposite. In most cases, sometimes you have to work more then the typical 9-5 job because when you are not working you are not making money. This is unlike the typical job, where, no matter what you do during your work period, at the end of the day you will still get paid your fixed rate. To many entrepreneurs it may not seem like they are putting in the hours, but that is because usually the business they are trying to create is something they love to do. So telling you how many hours a week they work, they may not take everything into consideration. It is like doing your hobby for a living. For example, I love flipping houses and real estate. I also love not be trapped in an office for 20 million hours a day. So I don’t mind putting the extra hours into my properties or even this website because it is something I love to do. When I am at home watching television I might just surf the internet for potential properties or inspiration for this site, but when telling somebody how many hours I work I might not add this into the equation. I like to say entrepreneurs work 24/7.This is one of my rules: If you don’t like the subject of your business, then don’t waste your time otherwise you won’t enjoy it, then your effort will slip day by day until you can’t handle it anymore. Suddenly you have lost a lot of money for nothing.

Something else to ponder over is can you motivate yourself? As an independent worker, there will be nobody above you telling you what to do. So if you want to wait 10 days to go get that license or 6 months to start advertising, go ahead, but that is 10 days or 6 months that you are now pushed back.

I love to make money. It is a passion of mine. Now obviously everybody likes to make money, but the difference between like and love is the risk you are willing to take to gain that money. Some people may not feel comfortable with living from paycheck to paycheck for a while and that is their choice, but if you are not confident in your risk, then it is probably best you shouldn’t become an entrepreneur. I say this because when first starting out people fail all the time. They may try to get a loan or sell their product, and then get shot down. At this point you might have already invested a lot of time and money. Many people will usually give up their dream right then and there. Those are the people that like to get money. The people that love to get money will keep on trying because they are confident that their plan will eventually become successful.

Eventually if you keep at it and has your business grows you will develop a system and things will become easier to manage. So when you are thinking about starting your own business remember to consider a couple of things:

Evaluate your current financial situations: if you have a family and you are the only source of income, then it might not be in your best interest to put all your money into a start-up.

Are you going to create something you would use for yourself: if the answer is no, then why are you even doing it. Great minds think alike, so others probably won’t want to use it either.

Can you push yourself: when things kept getting pushed back, so will your potential earnings.

Do you love getting money or just like: you will only make BIG money once you make BIG commitments.

There are obviously many more things to consider in the broader picture, but I think these are the most important and cover almost everything.