3 Insightful Lessons for All Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Becoming an entrepreneur is a decision that requires grit, tenacity, and bravery. Of course there’s the big idea that initially catapults an individual into entering the startup world in the first place, but prior to the conceptualization of that big idea is the revelation that one’s current circumstances — professional, financial, emotional — aren’t enough.
“There has to be more,” is what a entrepreneur will tell him or herself before taking the leap.
And the interesting part is this: that feeling never goes away. Some people chase it and become successful people running their own companies. Some of them succeed, though most of them fail, which is a common understanding given statistics about new businesses over the last decade.
Other people avoid that feeling, trying their best to contain it or squelch it before it looms any larger. The feeling is always there; but it remains dormant, never seeing to its potential.
Investing in a startup, nonetheless yourself as an entrepreneur, is a risk not meant for everyone. Not everyone has the stomach to jump into the trenches and treat each and every day (yes, including weekends) as a battle that must be won.
Those that do, however, enter flight or fight mode daily and either succeed or fail. It’s that simple.
This isn’t to suggest that failure is the end of the world or even the end of one’s own dreams as a entrepreneur. In many cases, failure is often the valuable lesson that leads to even more success in the future.
But in the thick of that failure, or the subsequent days following a direct face-off with dire adversity, it’s imperative that all aspiring entrepreneurs considering the following three insightful lessons.
1) Automate Your Workflow
According to a podcast interview with Side Hustle Nation and digital marketing guru Sean Marshall, startup entrepreneurs must be able to automate their workflow if they want to scale their business. In Sean’s words, he states that “Software will never call in sick, and it’ll work 99% of the time.”
This can entail investing in anything from project management software, social media tools, or HR management software. The point is this: We are human. We can’t take on every single task that’s required for our company’s success. We must be able to find loopholes in our workflow to become more efficient and effective.
Automating our workflow will help us diminish inefficiencies in our processes across the board. For instance, there are virtual assistants who can set up your schedule as opposed to you having to hire an actual assistant who’s owed benefits. In addition, there are plenty of best writing services for support from committed, experienced and professional writers.
With technology, the options are fully at your disposal.
2) It’s OK to Ask For Your Help
Not only is it OK to ask for your help, it’s actually in your best interest to ask for help, especially from a mentor. As with the idea of automating your workflow, it’s also important to build a relationship with a mentor, i.e., someone who’s gone through it before, someone who can teach you all the insightful lessons they overlooked along the way.
Kathy Caprino, a senior contributor for Forbes, believes that individuals must be diligent and prudent in their pursuit of mentors. She suggests people should look to fiind great mentors through the inspiring people they’re already interacting and working with now. They need to be “people to whom entrepreneurs have already demonstrated their potential.”
But the key takeaway is that it’s healthy for you to acknowledge that you need help. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to keep your fears, issues, and mistakes to yourself; it only results in avoidance of larger problems. Face the fear head on with support — from your friends, peers, family, and your mentors.
At the end of the day, your mentor is someone who once upon a time went through what you’re going through right now.
3) You Asked For This
Being an entrepreneur means that you are in control of your fate. You have chosen your journey and are pursuing it to your best abilities. What this also means is that you are embarking on a difficult path that few individuals have traveled on and even fewer have succeeded in passing through unscated.
But you knew all about that before you decided to traverse the path (you knew there were challenges with running a business). What you also knew is that it’s tough out here for entrepreneurs, with so many industries being disrupted monthly, with so many jobs being passed on to technology (becoming “automated,” as seen in the first lesson above).
Therefore, it’s with the utmost empathy and tough love when we say, “You asked for this.” Kevin O’Leary, famous for his alter-ego, the self-proclaimed Mr. Wonderful on the hit show Shark Tank, has boldly stated the personal sacrifices one must make for his or her business to be successful.
Many businesspeople know of these possible scenarios prior to starting their businesses, but it’s not until they’re experiencing the responsibility of running their own company that they recognize all the personal sacrifices they must make in order to keep their business afloat.
Some can’t take it, but others realize that it’s the byproduct of trying to secure financial freedom. Because that’s what running your own business or digital marketing agency is about: not having to report to anyone, not having to show up somewhere on someone’s time, not having to make money for a company that only gives you a piece of the pie and doesn’t care about you.
Conclusion
It’s freedom you can smell or taste from miles away. However, with freedom comes sacrifice, and with sacrifice comes tough decisions.
But this is the life you chose. And it’s the life you’re going to fight for because the alternative, being an employee at a 9-to-5 job, isn’t in your DNA. It’s not who you are. It’s not who you were meant to be.
Thus, these are insightful lessons for all aspiring entrepreneurs, because it’s all about learning from the people who’ve traveled your path before you decided to embark on your path.
© New To HR
