Behind the Scenes in the Life of an Entrepreneur

You’re scrolling through Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook when some self-proclaimed successful guy starts a video ad telling you how easy it is to be your own boss and make exorbitant amounts of money. You hear the numbers he is quoting and you run them through your head. Oh yes, that would do just fine, more than fine. All your problems will be over: your debts, your crappy boss, the new car you want. You can have it all. Just sign up for his program and within 90 days you’ll be making that kind of income.

We need to talk.

I’m here to tell you the truth about entrepreneurship and it isn’t all pretty.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a business owner. And I have some perspective since I’ve been an employee, a consultant, my own boss, and someone else’s boss. But I hear this naive statement a lot from people who have no clue what it means. I love business but I don’t want to lie: Not everyone can (or should) be a business owner. 

You have to be mentally ready. Ask yourself how high your stress and rejection threshold is. Be honest if your marriage or relationship can handle the pressure and dedication you’ll have to give to grow your business. If you have children, think of the long hours and sometimes demanding clients or potential travel. You should keep your day job at first so think of all those late hours it will take to build your business in your free time. A perfect business doesn’t exist but ideally, you’ll want to design any business to sync in harmony with the lifestyle you live and you'll have to hustle very hard at first.

When you run a business, you are in-charge, even on days when you are tired, sick, or discouraged. It is the business owner’s responsibility to maintain Sales and financial stability, to create a positive and productive environment, to support his or her team and clients in any way possible…all while making money, tons of money…. be insanely innovative to rise above the competition and keep clients happy so they’ll work with you longer. You'll do this all while finding the balance to have a great personal life outside of work and keep the shareholders or bank at bay if and when you have a bad month.

You have costs, often high costs. It takes money to make money so the more you make, the more you will spend. When these costs increase, you have more pressure on you. Any dip in Sales can feel like a small Earthquake if you cut your expenses too close to your profit margins. 

You have to master your ego and your emotions when every nerve in your body is telling you to tell this awful client/employee/vendor to go to hell or you want to throw up you’re so nervous right before an important investor or client pitch. Instead, you stay calm and smile and learn how to be a professional in difficult situations and handle difficult people.

If you listen to your ego, you will overspend. You will splurge on the nice office, the nice car, the top talent, etc. After all, you want to be the best. How can you land the big fish client without the right car?? And only a week later, your largest client will announce they are leaving you and it won’t usually even be your fault. They had a bad quarter and need to trim expenses and you are an expense. Or they have a new manager who wants to bring onboard his own people.

You win big and you loose big and often running a business feels like a rollercoaster or a madhouse. You are always either in ecstasy or hell. Oh, the rejection you will face!!! Every entrepreneur’s journey is different and your definition of success will be too. But one thing is for sure: it’s not for everyone so think wisely before you start a business and speak with multiple business owners for real-time perspectives.

If you found value in this article, please consider subscribing to my personal email list.

Krista Mollion helps new and aspiring business owners launch successful businesses. Reach out to find out more about her coaching and mastermind programs here. Follow #thesassymethod to get her posts.