Do you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur? Majority of people are more comfortable being employed than putting up their own business. This is not because they are contented and happy with their present job but the truth is; people are afraid of failure.
Setting up and running a business is tough and risky. There’s no guarantee of success. Chances are, you could be successful in this venture but there’s also a great chance of failing. In short, entrepreneurial life is not for everyone. Yes it can be risky but it can be rewarding too for those who succeed.
“Only a warrior can handle the road to become unbeatable. His life is a challenge, and challenges are not good or bad. They’re simply challenges.”
Samurai Proverb
10 Key Points Aspiring Entrepreneurs Should Keep In Mind
1. Time is Your Most Valuable Asset
Here’s an important fact, money, success, material things are all useless if you don’t have the TIME. Unlike if you are an employee, your time or work hours is not dependent on bundy clocks but are utilized on more important matters like planning strategies to make your business successful or think of ways on how to improve your business plan to achieve your goal. Therefore, as an entrepreneur, your time should be spent wisely. If you don’t have the “Time” then it is worthless to even think of becoming an entrepreneur.
2. Business Success Depends on You
Being the business owner, everything and everyone is counting on you. You have the ultimate responsibility to make things work and to make your business successful than simply being an ordinary employee. You no longer just sit there for the meeting because you call the shots here. You cannot just sit there and wait for the result because it is you who make things happen. Your business’ success lies on the palm of your hand. If you know how to play the game, tremendous opportunity awaits you.
3. Don’t Go After The Money
Don’t fathom on the “Get Rich Quick” scheme. You cannot take a short-cut to success. It is ridiculous to believe such a thing. What entrepreneurs should do is not to waste any time, offer quality and good value of your service or products to customers and everything else will follow. Never chase after the money, instead attract money towards your business. Once you do it right, money will follow.
Remember, if you are able to provide and satisfy your customer’s needs, if you are able to give their money’s worth, then revenues become a by-product of your success.
4. Let Money Work For You
Keep this in mind, successful people do not stress themselves to work over money but they have the formula to make money work for them. It makes me laugh to hear people complain about the rich people having so much money and yet works less or put much lesser effort than they are. Sad to say, these same people who make such uneducated comment are the ones who want to get rich fast. They buy lottery tickets in the hopes of getting their millions so easily.
And unsurprisingly, these very same people are the ones who spend more than what they can afford and are usually in debt up to their eyeballs. In fact, they become so comfortable living paycheck to paycheck and make no effort to get out of that rat race.
Successful people become successful for a reason. They work for it and step-by-step climb the ladder and then find ways to create opportunities for money to work for them.
5. Success, Stress and Risk Go Together
Employees do not worry as much as business owners do. Of course they worry and think about the success of a particular campaign, but they are limited and are focused only in completing the task they are told to do so. While being the business owner, you carry the burden. There’s no comfort zone for you. You give the order here, and the employees will simply execute and implement what you ask them to do. If you aren’t feeling the stress and the pressure of what you are doing, then you are not taking enough risks in pursuing your business venture. Simply put, the higher the risk you take the higher your reward will be.
6. The Magic Pill
Our dependence towards this what we call “magic pill” has grown exponentially over the years. This magic pill becomes the primary solution to our problems. If you had too many drinks the other night and got this hangover, a friend would recommend some pills for you. If you have this acid reflux in your stomach, there’s some pill for that too. If you are gaining too much weight, there’s some magic pill for that too.
Well, amateur entrepreneurs also have the tendency to become dependent on some “Magic Pill” too. Simply calling yourself or branding yourself as the “President and CEO” of your new company doesn’t signify you to be a successful businessman already. Reading and learning about other people’s success stories doesn’t make you one either.
Don’t be a parasite of this “magic pill.” Make effort on getting rid of your bad habits. Success is a journey. You have to go through it, pass through rough roads, stumble, and stand before you reach your destination, same with being an entrepreneur. You don’t achieve success overnight. You need to pass through the eye of the needle before success is attained.
7. The Love of Numbers
The only numbers employees are concern about are their salaries or commissions they get from the company. But as an entrepreneur, every single number associated to your company is very much critical. From the preparation of your proposal to tax estimates to payrolls to cash flows and balance sheets, the numbers you see here means a lot to you and your business. Therefore, you should love numbers because your business depends greatly on those numbers. In short, you better be good in Math. Having great ideas and products are not enough. You’ll never reach success if your Math is wrong.
8. Recognizing Your Assets
OK, so do you really know what your true assets are? First let me differentiate asset and liability. According to the dictionary, “Assets are items of ownership convertible into cash; total resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable,securities, inventories, goodwill, fixtures, machinery, or real estate.” On the other hand, “Liabilities are moneys owed; debts or pecuniary obligations.” In short, they are disadvantageous to you.
As you see, Assets and Liabilities are completely opposite with each other. An asset makes you money while liabilities cost you money. But surprisingly, I kept running into people who considers their “HOME” as an asset even if they still have 25 years left in their mortgage.. Obviously, a lot of people are confused between asset and liability.
Keep in mind that unless you have completely paid off your mortgage, your home is considered a liability. Now if you don’t believe me, try not paying your monthly dues and you’ll see how fast as a lightning your property is taken away from you.
Same goes with your business, don’t use your business credit card to buy a company car and think of it as an asset. Remember, anything that is leased or bought on credit is a liability to you and your business. The more credit incurred the more liability you have. But if debts cannot be evaded, make sure to keep it minimal. That way you can make your business grow faster.
9. Location Independent
You put up a business to be independent. So why not make your business a location independent as well. Meaning, you must be ready and open to opportunities at any time because opportunities knock on doors anytime of the day. Income opportunities never sleeps you know.
This doesn’t mean though that you have to work 15 hours or more. It simply means that you can easily adjust your work time and your leisure time. You can work even when you are on the road, stuck in traffic or may take some time off anytime of the day to take care of personal matters. In short you are free and “location independent.”
10. Helping Other People Succeed
Of course, any entrepreneur will make effort to achieve success but don’t stop there. You’ll be amazed how fulfilling and rewarding it is to help others succeed too. And I am not referring only to your clients but helping other aspiring or established entrepreneurs as well. Giving back is key behind any businessman’s success. To be generous can lead to more blessings – not just monetary blessings but also in other aspects of one’s life. It’s true!