Is starting or running business really for you – do you have that entrepreneurial drive, the drive you’ll need on those tough days? Let me remind you now: there will be many of those days when you feel like packing it in for one reason or another.
I had this great question from someone recently – “Shanna, do you still have or get bad business days when everything just seems to fall apart?”
So today I thought I’d take a minute to answer this question and share a recent experience with you – YES, I still get those bad business days, when all hell break loose and everything seem to be falling to pieces!! And the reality is that ALL entrepreneurs get those days from time to time. If they tell you otherwise, tell them I said they’re not telling you the whole story!!
As some of you may notice, my website has a brand new look. A personal philosophy of mine and a key lesson in branding is that as you grow & as your business evolves, so should the brand that represents you. You shouldn’t be marketing one thing while your branding is saying something completely different. This is a whole other topic that I’ll address in the future.
Back to the story. When I decided to update my website, we hired someone that claimed to be a website design specialist to complete the job. We agreed on the timeframe, and we stressed the importance of completing the project within a two-month timeframe because we had a pre-schedule launch in the 3rd month. The person stated that yes, they could complete the job no problem.
A few weeks into the project things just didn’t seem to be coming together and we couldn’t understand what this person was doing. The first sign of trouble was no updates, and no direct response to inquiries regarding the progress. I’m not a website designer, however I know that if you’re a professional and trying to complete a project within a certain timeframe, you should definitely be seeing progress more than a few weeks in!
Needless to say, after the agreed upon timeframe the site wasn’t done and what was done WAS NOT in alignment with my brand. We were delayed with our launch and worst of all the entire site had to be redone due to the mess this designer created in the backend. It cost us double the amount of time and money to get the job done properly.
Did I want to pull my hair out? Sure I did!! Did everything fall apart? Sure it did!!
Why did I share this with you? Well, I want you to think about this – are you in for the long haul? Is entrepreneurship really for you?
Things will happen at every stage of your business that will come close to flooring you – if not completely knocking you over at times. It’s inevitable – there is no business that has sunny days every day of the week.
- Running a real estate business will see bounced cheques, late payments, or a $5,000 furnace replacement.
- Running other businesses may bring you a client that has delinquency issues or a web designer that takes your money and leave the job incomplete and a total mess.
- Sometimes one part of your business might be thriving while the other part makes you feel as if you should pack it in.
- Sometimes your business is thriving and your personal life is in chaos, and you must find the strength to handle both.
- Sometimes the people around you can’t see your vision and don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish, leaving you feeling overwhelmed by the lack of support.
- Sometimes you come so close to landing a contract or getting a new client and then something change and it all falls apart right in front of you, and you’re left wondering what just happened.
All these are part of the entrepreneurial journey, and in order to succeed, even though you may feel like giving up at times, you still need to pick up the pieces and move in the direction of your vision.
The questions are: Are you in it for the long haul, and is it really for you?
I’m not trying to scare you, but the truth is, it’s not for everyone. If it was we would have many more entrepreneurs today.
In order to succeed at anything worth having, it takes work and commitment.
Entrepreneurship takes confidence, courage, drive, strength, tenacity, determination, patience, persistence, passion, and extreme discipline at times. All of these can be learnt but it will take commitment.
It’s not enough to simply aspire to entrepreneurship when you’re upset with your boss at work, when you didn’t get the raise you worked so hard for, when you were overlooked for the promotion you know you deserved, or when you’re not satisfied with your bank account in the middle of the month –
Entrepreneurship is when you’re EMPOWERED before, because of & in spite of all those things. (a tweetable)
Whether things are going great at work or not – you still have that desire, that vision for a freedom that only entrepreneurship can fulfill.
So my questions to you this month are:
- Do you know WHY you want to become an entrepreneur?
- Are you really willing to do the work to succeed as one, or do you just like the idea of being one?
Are you prepared to stick around when all hell breaks loose!!
Over to you – as always I look forward to your feedback & views…
As always I’ll see you at the top, the bottom is way too crowded!
Shanna
This Month’s Power Quote: “Chaos simply means opportunity is knocking at your door!”