Some people think starting a business is glamourous. 10 minutes on social and you'll see feeds filled with the bro-marketing “aesthetic”: people in fancy suits, sitting in first class, suave-looking desk setups. Or worse: sitting in rented Lambos flashing a wad of cash on a million-dollar estate in the Hamptons or something. The reality of business for most entrepreneurs couldn't be further from this "truth".
Starting up and running a business is one of the most difficult but rewarding journeys anyone can experience in their life. It’s a road filled with so much stress but there are plenty of other truths when it comes to running a business. So here are some of the harsh realities of being a business owner.
A lot of people want to escape the whole 9 to 5 job in the hopes of making it big and working fewer hours as a business owner. While some business owners will get to that point within their career, it’s not always like that. You will be working longer hours when you’re owning your own business, it’s a job that essentially never stops. You may eventually feel burnout and grow tired but even then, you’ll need to tough it out and just deal with it.
The journey of starting a business is a bumpy road. It can be hard to even determine where to begin and how to begin at that. While a business all starts with an idea, it’s the next steps that can be the challenging part. There needs to be a lot of research such as technology and media businesses for sale, but also trying to determine where the capital will come from for the investment of the business.
Other questions may include where to find suppliers, how to market the business, and how to find good employees. Just be prepared to be overwhelmed at the very beginning, but understand that is completely natural.
Entrepreneurs just starting out often tend to overestimate their own abilities. If you’re wanting to avoid the whole scenario of figuring out how to turn your struggling business around then it’s very important to just be realistic with yourself. While it’s nice to believe that you can do anything that you put your mind to, this mentality can also be what sets you up for failure. So it’s very important to just be realistic with yourself and avoid biting off more than you can chew.
Business owners will go through tough times, such tough times that they will be on the verge of quitting their business. There is a very high chance you’ll have this happen to you as well. While it may sound very grim, it is the reality of being a business owner. There will be times when you’re going to just want to get up and walk away from owning a business but there will be other times where you’ll fall in love with your business all over again. It all comes in waves and they’re usually unexpected.
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