Shocking Truths About Entrepreneurship People Don’t Consider

Being an entrepreneur and starting a business online isn’t for the faint of heart, but it does provide a new business owner the incredible opportunity to pursue ideas and see if they work. Starting a business online is also a fun way to bring a passion for life and improve people’s lives. For people are sick of their 9-to-5 jobs, becoming an entrepreneur also means being your own boss. Launching a business is exciting, scary, mind-blowing, and hopefully profitable. Success doesn’t come easy, but as we often discuss in our free webinar training, it’s possible to become an incredible entrepreneur with a business that can help you make a living online and help people simultaneously. Wondering what some of the surprising truths of entrepreneurship are? Keep reading:

1. Growing a business is scary

It’s never easy starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur, and Forbes reiterates this by reminding new business owners that it’s scary, but it’s worth it! Think about which steps you need to take and day by day you’ll soon find you’re building a profitable and successful online business.

Building a business to the high 5-figures or even 6-figure range is not as difficult as you might think.

However, if you want to be a top 1% entrepreneur and really take the game to the next level, it’s going to be hard.

Actually, it’s going to be freaking terrifying. Scaling your business to great heights will require you to learn new skills, hire and lead a team, and get so far out of your comfort zone that you risk a mental breakdown.

I promise that it will be worth it, but be prepared to have more than a few heart palpitations along the journey.

2. You have to put in the work

No, success won’t come overnight, which is why Entrepreneur points out that you have to put in the work for your company to succeed. This may not seem like a news flash, but it’s something to consider as you set up your business for success carefully.

While a lot of courses and programs being sold promise minimal work, it just isn’t reality. Sure, there are rare exceptions, but ask most successful entrepreneurs how their days looked when they were just starting out and I'm willing to bet that they included heading into the office before the sun was up and leaving well after it went back down.

You have to be willing to work. Everyone has the time, but not everyone is willing to dedicate it to building a business. Gary Vaynerchuk said it best — “Stop watching f***ing Lost … if you want this. If you want bling bling. If you want to buy the Jets. If you want to do s**t. Work. That’s how you get it.”

3. You don’t give up on making your business succeed

At times you may feel like giving up, but Inc. says not to do that. It’s going to take a lot of dedication and perseverance to keep your business up and running, so don’t give up just yet. Follow through with your goals and push through the hard times.

Entrepreneurs have only one end game, success. They are not driven to succeed, they are obsessed with it, it's part of their pathology. These are the people with whom you can't have a conversation, game of chess, or a friendly wager that does not turn into a take-no-prisoners competition. But that's a good thing for an entrepreneur, right? Yes, if you win.

You see, the vast majority of entrepreneurial ventures do not succeed, leaving those very same people who are obsessed with success dealing with its absence.

Have I scared you off yet? Of course not, you're reading this because you're the person I'm describing. You're going to do this no matter what. Good. So, here are four pieces of advice from someone who's been there.

When you embark on an entrepreneurial journey, give yourself a hard timeframe. Don't allow yourself to be sucked into a black hole of never-ending struggles to prove that your idea, company, or self is successful. Everything has a life cycle. So do ideas. There's no magic timeline to follow, but if you're still trying to reach the critical mass of a self-sustaining company after two years, I'd seriously look at what's next.

Define what constitutes success based on reasonable assumptions and unreasonable standards. There's nothing wrong with shooting for the moon, but if you are constantly falling back to earth because you cannot reach escape velocity, something is very wrong with your success metrics. Perhaps launching satellites into low earth orbit may be a better idea. (That's intended to be a metaphor, not advice.) As long as your standards are high, you have the assurance it wasn't for lack of trying.

Prepare yourself, your spouse or significant other, and family for what's to come. Nobody starts the entrepreneurial journey with a balanced lifestyle. Yes, you should strive for that at some point. That's why you're doing this anyway, to have the luxury of time and choices of how to spend that time. To see your kids grow up. To travel and see the world. To mentor, teach, and help others less fortunate. You'll get there. However, and this may sound harsh, but from what I've experienced and seen, that's at least a five-year journey.

Last, be honest with yourself about why you're embarking on this path. If it's all about the money, you'll never be motivated enough. How can I say that? Because I can tell you, without hesitation, that if you can trade in your drive for money, you aren't starting out with enough drive.

4. You have to stay motivated

Sometimes you may have a hard time staying motivated, which is why you need to get creative. Medium The Startup suggests staying curious about your world and staying self-motivated. Don’t ever stop learning and yearning to improve certain aspects of your business. If you start getting “bored” think of ways to improve yourself. This may mean going to a regular entrepreneur focused meetup where you can talk about your frustrations or being more active on social media to socialize with fellow entrepreneurs. Get out of your comfort zone and figure out ways to stay grounded and focused.

To simply say that you need to be self-motived in order to become a successful entrepreneur is an understatement. You need to be the kind of person who does their taxes in January and flosses twice a day.

You’ll also need to be authentically curious about the world, with a thirst for solving problems. When you first launch a startup, you’re on your own. Eventually you may grow your team and bring great folks onboard to help, but for a while you’ll riding solo. This means you (and only you) are the marketer, the finances coordinator, the PR director, the head of customer service, etc. You will be wearing every hat under the sun.

As you can imagine, this is basically setting up shop in Stress City, USA. However, if you’re self-motivated, this can be a fun and exciting learning opportunity. Just know that you’ll be playing every instrument in the jazzensemble, so prepare to be challenged!

5. You have to become a leader in your industry

Becoming a leader in your business and industry is something you should strive for, and Everyday Power adds to this thought by explaining why being a leader will help you follow through with your business aspirations.

There is a famous line in the John Lennon song “Borrowed Time”—“The more I see the less I know.” Once you accept this, it is easier to see that your perspective is both the cause of your company’s problems, and its best opportunity for success! Embrace the gift of growth and learning. You may tap potential you didn’t know you had.

Bottom line: it is your job to fix these issues. You are the leader. Being an entrepreneur, you must manage the chaos, whether it is the pressure, passion, pleasure or pain, a lack of experience or lack of perspective doesn’t matter. It is YOUR job to fix it.

But while you’re doing hard work, remember that you are the greatest tool you have to transform chaos into order; to bring your vision to life—and to see it grow successfully.

These shocking truths hopefully made you think about how it’s going to be running your own business. Being an entrepreneur is exciting, so don’t back down and don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. You deserve to succeed! To learn how to become your own boss online, we walk you through how to start a profitable online business during our free webinar training. What are you waiting for?! Register for our next training today!

Sources: Entrepreneur, Inc., Medium The Startup, Everyday Power, Forbes