In the recent weeks on social media, I have noticed more and more people creating ridiculous posts about working hard as the key to success, or you have to work 80 hours a week, or you aren’t gonna make it, or even people saying that you need to give up all levels of family interaction in order to succeed.
Having been around for some time now, I can tell you that all of the above are not exactly accurate.
While it is true that being an entrepreneur isn’t about freedom of time and income, its all about sacrifice and hard work, but it also doesn’t have to be that extreme.
On this Memorial Day, I decided to share with you the correct expectations that being an entrepreneur entails.
1) It does require hard work: We all have a different definition of working hard. Some of us consider that working long hours dictates their commitment, while others think working late nights after a full shift at their regular job is a measure of their commitment. Hard work isn’t about either of these things.
Working hard is about learning to be uncomfortable and being willing to do what others won’t. Being an entrepreneur means wearing many hats which require you to learn many skills, and even execute on concepts you have to learn about in as little as 10 hours.
The idea of working hard isn’t to put a minimum time expectation or to say that you have to give up nights of sleep, but rather that you are willing to do any work necessary to help you get to the finish line. The difference lies in the commitment to the cause and how much effort you are willing to put in without being reminded.
That’s the hardest part you see, most expect to be reminded of deadlines, or take extra time to accomplish tasks, but entrepreneurs are losing massive money and momentum each and every time their mind is away from their work.
The goals are never to put in the extra hours day in or day out, but rather put in whatever it takes to close that gap between idea and execution.
2) You have to sacrifice family and friends to succeed: This holds somewhat true, but not entirely, as you have to prioritize, not necessarily sacrifice. You have to make choices from time to time that will be difficult such as missing a soccer game or not going on vacation for 12 months.
The sacrifices do not have to be drastic like losing your family or not spending anytime with them, but rather has to be about giving your project a high level of priority. People who often fail are focused on maintaining their comfort while starting their entrepreneurial venture and while it is possible, it is unlikely to succeed as every venture has an expiration date and taking your time could mean reaching that date before you gain any traction.
3) You need a lot of money: Your venture may require capital at some point or another but it doesn’t require anything to get started. It requires sweat equity, effort, research and the ability to bridge your lack of funding in your earlier days before you have access to capital or attempt to raise money.
You may need to get creative at times, or perhaps to work a day job in order to fund your ventures need for money early on. Whatever the case may be, its possible and its simple, but it far from easy.
Hopefully you won’t allow these three misconceptions to keep you from chasing your goals and slow down your journey to success.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to know yourself enough before venturing into entrepreneurship and the reason why I have written Third Circle Theory. A book focused on human behaviors and observations and how to leverage entrepreneurship to get to know yoursel
