It’s the dream, isn’t it. Working for yourself, setting your own hours, doing what you love, making your dreams come true.
Sounds great, doesn’t it.
Well, it is.
But…
It’s also quite a challenge. Let’s get real here, and be honest. Let me tell you a few of my truths about being in business.
- You make mistakes, lots of them. Sometimes you fail miserably. That’s just a fact. It happens. It happened to me, it will happen to you, and its happened to probably every entrepreneur our there at some stage. It’s how we learn. Its all about trial and error in this game. And, when you play big, you sometimes lose big. C’est la vie.
- You get to work your own hours – Great! You would think! But it doesn’t work like that. Very often you work long hours, longer than you did when you had a job and a boss. You start early and finish late, squeezing in the extra minutes here and there in-between school runs, nap-time, dinner time etc…
- You take on all the roles in your very own organization. You are the accountant, the marketer, the receptionist, the customer care coordinator, the database administrator, the IT specialist and the service provider. You are all things. And you have to figure it out yourself. It’s a lot. And it takes time. Time you would much rather spend working with clients.
- You are only accountable to yourself. There’s no boss to report to, and make sure you’re on track – great, I hear you say. Yes, that’s true. But on the other hand keeping yourself to your own deadlines and schedules without wandering off on tangents or getting sidetracked can be quite difficult. Making sure you hit deadlines on time, stay focused and finish projects is harder than you’d thing when there is just you to report to.
- The Gremlin gets louder and sometimes he wins. That little guy who who whispers little snippets of self-doubt gets louder. There’s only you to fend him off, and when you’re on your own, with self-imposed schedules and deadlines, he has the potential to get a lot more air time than you would like. Mastering mindset and learning to control those thoughts are crucial on this journey.
- Your planning skills go into overdrive. They have to. Otherwise, things would never be finished. You end up with lots of ideas and plenty of plans, but there aren’t enough hours in the day to do them all. So you have to be fairly cut-throat and cherry pick the best ones, and make them happen. See them through to completion. And for that, you need to plan expertly. Because you are your own boss, you need to manage your time effectively so that you are working on new ideas, finishing projects in progress, doing the work with clients, and filling up your sales funnel for the foreseeable future. The only way, is to plan and schedule with expert efficiency.
- It can be lonely. If you’re not careful, this one can creep up on you unexpectedly. You can be so busy working on your business that you forget that relationships and building connections are essential too – not just for your business but for your mental health too. Loneliness can settle in suddenly, so make sure you raise your head every now and check that you’ve this one covered.
On the plus side however,
You are your own boss- and you can make that work for you
- Mistakes accelerate your progress. If you can figure out how to pick yourself up and move on quickly, taking the learning with you, then you are on to a winner. Learning from the experience of others is essential also.
- You get to work your own hours. By implementing some serious scheduling and time-keeping skills, you can find a balance between work, family and fun. It’s tough, and you need to have some stiff boundaries in place, but it is doable.
- You learn HEAPS. The learning curve is massive. Sure, mistakes will happen, and not everything will go to plan, but there is huge learning to be gained from that, and fast!
- Your network expands. If you invest some time and energy in building relationships and networks, whole new worlds of people and possibilities open up for you.
- You get to do everything yourself. Believe it or not, while this has been one of the most challenging parts of entrepreneurship, it’s also been the most interesting. You get real hands on experience of how to operate all aspects of your business. That makes gives you a hell of a lot more control when you start earning enough to delegate things to an assistant.
- You’re forced to master your mindset, and silence the gremlin. In order to be successful, you MUST figure out how to silence that voice in your head that whispers doubts in your ear. Success is in a large part down to mindset. Being good at what you do is not enough to see you through the challenges of entrepreneurship. Your commitment and ability is tested regularly. A success mindset is what keeps you on course.
What have been some of your biggest challenges to date?
How have you learned to deal with them?
If you want to learn how I’ve worked through these challenges, and set up effective business marketing, efficent business systems and excellent mindset skills, then come join me for the next round of Build and Thrive Academy’s “From Headache to Harmony” {CLICK} to find out more
AND, on Friday 12th June I will be showing you a few of my favourite mindset mastery exercises in a FREE webinar. {CLICK} to register.