Starting your own business can be one of the most fulfilling adventures in life. Not only is it an opportunity to pursue whatever you’re passionate about, but you can create your own work schedule, gain unique experience, and if all goes well, earn yourself a small fortune.
Unfortunately, the hard truth for the vast majority of first-time entrepreneurs is that failure is a much more likely outcome. According to multiple estimates, around 80% of all first-time entrepreneurs fail at some time within their first 18 months, and 90% of all startups fail. It’s no big secret. After all, you would have heard that most new startups fail many times over.
If you asked a successful entrepreneur how many of their previous businesses failed, most would probably need to think about their answer because almost all of them fail multiple times before finding success. In fact, many would probably say that looking at the reasons why their startups failed actually helped them build their dream business venture.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with taking a positive approach and believing that you’ll be the one to make it because some invariably do. Just be prepared to work extremely hard to get there.
Just because you lack experience shouldn’t be a reason to fail. By taking advice from people who have experience is the best way to improve your chances of being a successful entrepreneur. Whether you are thinking about trying your hand at becoming an entrepreneur, or you’ve already started your business, this article may be able to help you in your journey.
Ask yourself why do you want to be an entrepreneur in the first place
Starting a business for the very first time is exciting. It’s a lot like starting a new relationship, in that you have to devote lots of time, money, effort, and other resources for it to thrive and grow into something amazing. You have to be ready to commit yourself to it 100%. So, before you start writing your business plan or quitting your job, you need to ask yourself why you want to become an entrepreneur?
Is starting your own business the right move for you right now? What are your motivations? Do you want to get out of that corporate job and make something of your own? Or do you want the freedom that comes with making your own money without answering to a boss?
While these are all valid reasons, they’re more focused on your desires as the owner of a business rather than the needs of potential customers. Remember that to become a successful entrepreneur; your job isn’t just to make yourself money, but to provide value. That means the service or product you will offer needs to be something that solves a problem.
Don’t be afraid of simple ideas
The problem with too many businesses is that they tend to be too ambitious, try to help too many people, or cover too many needs. That is admirable. Everything special is simple. All you really need is just one simple idea. It doesn’t even need to be all that different from your competitors, as long it helps people in some way. Like if you have existing technical skills from video editing or digital marketing, you could start freelancing and help other businesses with their online marketing.
For example, with the explosion in growth on Instagram and more recently Tik Tok, the demand for photographers and professional content creators has increased dramatically. With simple niches, you can build a service within that niche. For example, if you are a photographer, don’t just do any type of photography, but find a niche demand such as specialising in poolside photography for Instagram influencers, or real estate photography for realtors.
Ideally, you should also test the viability of your business idea. Carrying out your own market research is always the best way to determine how much if any demand is there for your product or service. It will also give you a good idea whether or not your business idea will generate interest and how likely it is that people would pay for it.
While it’s always best if there’s an existing demand and there seems to be room in the industry for you, as long as you strip your plans down to their bare-bones, you’ll be far more likely to succeed in the end.
Happiness is key
One of the biggest regrets of many successful people, when they’re at the end of their lives’ journey, is that they spent too much time working and not enough being happy and enjoying time with the people they cared most about. Besides, while it may sound almost stupidly simple, happiness is key to being successful. That’s because your mindset is vital to the overall success of your business.
Entrepreneurship can be a hard journey, all you need to do is to check on the divorce rates and property settlement battles in the news when a high profile entrepreneur’s personal life breaks up. This isn’t a coincidence, that a lot of successful entrepreneurs have troubled personal lives. They dedicate the majority of their time in their careers, only to turn a blind eye to their significant others.
When your business does eventually struggle, your mindset will dictate how you respond when things don’t go your way. Not only should you fully expect things to go wrong, but you have to do everything you can to remain happy within yourself to ensure that when the worst does happen, you can become a happy problem solver instead of a sad creator of more disaster. So, to overcome everything and make it through to the other side will require the most positive of attitudes.
Final Thoughts
All things considered, becoming an entrepreneur is never easy. The journey will be challenging with an overwhelming amount of work, and the riskiness of your endeavour can wreak havoc on all aspects of your life. There will be some things that won’t go to plan, but by preparing yourself for upcoming obstacles on your road to success, they won’t deter you from seeing your idea all the way through to the very end.
Fortunately, those who succeed are often significantly rewarded. When your idea is accepted and doing well in the business world, it will be one of the most gratifying experiences of your life.
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