Starting your own business will be nothing that you expected it would be.
If you are like many new entrepreneurs, you probably have an amazing idea for a business. You've got a plan in place for how you are going to achieve success and how long it will take you to get there.
When you begin your entrepreneurial journey, it's natural to be excited. However, it can be easy to let your passion get in the way of reality. I encourage you to throw all expectations out the window.
Are you ready to learn 7 reality check questions that you should ask yourself before you start your own business?
Watch the video below where Tatiana and I talk about our 3 biggest online business failures:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
Do you want to learn how to master your online business? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!
Starting your own business is an exciting and scary venture.
Based on my personal experience coaching hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs, if you don't have the right mindset going into your business, you won't get far.
The media romanticizes the idea of entrepreneurship. On the surface, being a successful entrepreneur looks the ultimate dream. In many ways, it is. However, there is a not-so-sexy reality of entrepreneurship that many people fail to take into account, let alone are aware of.
If your sole intention for starting your own business is just to make money, I encourage you to re-think your direction in life. In the words of Marie Forleo, “Never start a business just to make money. Start a business to make a difference.”
Research shows that 50% of all new businesses fail within the first five years. These statistics prove that entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. How would it feel if you could avoid the mistakes that 50% of business owners make?
If more entrepreneurs knew about the realities of entrepreneurship, I think that they would be better prepared and more likely to succeed. Self-awareness is key.
I encourage you to reflect upon these 7 reality check questions before starting your own business.
1. Do you embrace failure?
Anyone who has ever watched a child learning to walk knows that success doesn't happen overnight. They get up and they fall down multiple times before they finally figure it out.
Entrepreneurs go through the exact same growing pains. Everyone fails at some point in their entrepreneurial journey. Don't get me wrong… failing doesn't feel good. When it happens, it's easy to view it as a personal shortcoming.
However, successful entrepreneurs know that failing is an integral steppingstone to their success, which is why they embrace it. Every mistake is seen as an opportunity to learn and grow.
As Anton Ignatenko, the CEO of Lead Network, says – “The only way you will know your limits is to explore them. Failures teach you what you can and cannot do. Knowing this helps you accurately plan for the future, and work toward your goals.”
I have failed thousands of times in my business. I would have never achieved the success that I have today if I let the knockdowns get in my way of achieving my goals. I know that I will fail more in the future, but I don't worry about it. Why?
Because I'm ready for anything and everything.
It comes down to your mindset. You can either get discouraged by failure and give up, or you can use it as leverage to propel you forward. The decision that you make determines your success as an entrepreneur.
When you are first starting your entrepreneurial journey the best thing that you can do is expect failure. If you try to hide from it or think that it won't happen, it will hit you in the face — hard. Once you are prepared, you will be able to find solutions to problems more quickly. This will allow you to bounce back faster from setbacks.
2. Are you willing to make sacrifices?
It's easy to think about all the things that you can get by becoming an entrepreneur. However, what about all of the things that you have to give up? Have you ever thought about that? If not, don't worry. A lot of people forget to take this into account.
I have yet to meet one successful entrepreneur that hasn't had to sacrifice something in order to get to where they are today. For a long time, I struggled with the idea of making sacrifices. Once I started to notice the payoffs that were coming from my sacrifices, it no longer bothered me.
Let's face it… sacrifices suck. The social life is usually hit the hardest. The assumption that a lot of people have is that, because you work for yourself, that must mean that you are in control of your time. Not necessarily. It depends on how fast you want to achieve success.
In the beginning stages of building your business, you will find that you have less time to invest in friendships and social engagements. Sometimes fun has to take a backseat, which can create more distance between you and your friends.
From my personal experience, your true friends are the ones who respect and understand your vision, despite the amount of time you actually get to connect with them.
Fear of missing out doesn't feel good, but when you start making money in your sleep, it no longer feels like you are missing out on anything.
3. Do you live for uncertainty?
We live in uncertain times and that's not going to change. If you want to survive in the business world you need to bask in uncertainty. The most successful entrepreneurs wake up every day ready for anything. They are always looking for ways to transform uncertainty into a competitive advantage.
They know that, realistically, nothing is in their control. The market could crash, their team could go sour, their clients could leave, or their brand could flop. The only thing that they have control over is how they respond to unforeseen circumstances.
Because of this reality, their success depends almost entirely on the choices that they make. Everything else is “in the air”, so to speak. How does that make you feel? I'm not saying that the unknown isn't uncomfortable — it is. However, if you can't embrace it, then maybe entrepreneurship is not for you.
Just like there are no guarantees in life, the same goes for entrepreneurship. If you can remain optimistic and passionate about your work, despite knowing that you could lose everything tomorrow, you are in it for the long-term. In the words of Margaret Drabble, “When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”
4. Are you prepared to work harder than you've ever worked before?
It doesn't matter if you are just starting out or are 5 years into your entrepreneurial journey, being an entrepreneur is always hard work. The problem is people hear about amazing overnight success stories and they think, “If they can do it, so can I!”
This is true. However, where people get stuck is that they have unrealistic expectations about what hard work looks like. A question that I receive from a lot of people is, “Stefan, “How do I get rich quick?”
If you follow my work, you know that this question drives me crazy.
If you are thinking this way, it tells me that you are not willing to do whatever it takes in order to build a profitable business. People get hooked on this mentality because they are sold shortcuts and gimmicks. Not surprisingly, they assume that it's possible to cut their workload in half by following “make money fast” advice.
I'm here to tell you that this won't work in the long-term. If you take the easy road, you will some achieve some success in the short-term, but it won't last. This isn't how I built a 7-figure online business.
My path to success took years of blood, sweat, and tears. The payoff was worth every second. It comes down to asking yourself, “How bad do I want it?”
5. Do you manage stress well?
The success of your business relies on you. On a daily basis, an entrepreneur is hit with a variety of different stressors that tests their patience. For this reason, I believe that the ability to effectively manage stress is one of the most important qualities that an entrepreneur can cultivate.
Starting your own business is an emotional rollercoaster ride. If you aren't willing to navigate the twists and turns, you will burn out, fast.
Successful entrepreneurs know how to make friends with stress because they have mastered their emotions. A survey by TalentSmart showed that 90 percent of top performers know how to manage their emotions in times of stress so that they remain cool and calm.
I still experience stress and anxiety in my business. However, I don’t let these experiences break me. I welcome challenges because they force me to grow and become more.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot avoid stress, especially in the business world. This is why it's of benefit to all of us to transform our perception of stress so that we use it to our advantage. When you achieve this, you are one step ahead of the competition.
Kelly McGonigal said it best – “When you embrace stress, you can transform fear into courage, isolation into connection, and suffering into meaning.”
6. Are you resourceful?
I’ve been an entrepreneur for almost 10 years now. I've built multiple successful businesses, but none of them would have been possible had I not been resourceful. During the beginning stages of growing your business, you need to master this trait.
“Be resourceful and train your resilience, these are the two most important assets you have for free, and still they are the hardest to get.” – Pablo Santaeufemia
Entrepreneurship is all about how fast you can innovate and solve problems. The reality is that there will never feel like there is enough of anything. For example, you may not have a lot of money to spare in the beginning stages of your business. Because of this, you will have to wear multiple hats, learn new skills, and find inexpensive ways to build your business.
When challenges arise, you have to be able to find ways to overcome them in a clever way. This requires that an entrepreneur be hyper-aware of the resources that are available to them. This is when having a strong network is ideal. How strong is yours?
At the end of the day, resourcefulness is a mindset. It's not about how smart you are. Rather, it's about how effectively you are able to optimize what you already have and create massive success from it.
7. Are you a people-person?
If you aren't a people-person you can still be an entrepreneur, but everything will feel like a struggle. As an entrepreneur, you can expect that you will always be interacting with people; whether that's a client, a potential customer, or a team member. You can't hide from it.
The reality is that people buy products and services from people that they like and trust. If you don't possess that likeability factor, selling will be difficult.
In my early 20's I was extremely shy and anxious. As a result, I hid behind my computer and did anything to not talk to people. Social situations made me extremely comfortable. However, I eventually reached an emotional threshold.
I knew that if I wanted to achieve entrepreneurial success, I needed to develop my social skills and fall in love with connecting with people. After a lot of self-development work on myself, that's exactly what I did. I stepped out of my comfort zone and faced my fears.
These skills have allowed me to take my business to a whole new level. Your ability to empathize and communicate with others will be critical to your success. This is why having strong people skills is so important.
If you answered yes to the above questions, you know that you are ready to dive into the world of entrepreneurship.
Starting a business is a massive undertaking. My intention for writing this blog isn't to freak you out or discourage you from starting your own business. Rather, it's to inform you of the realities of entrepreneurship so that you are prepared.
I challenge you to go inward and really determine whether or not starting a business is right for you. Being an entrepreneur may not turn out to be anything that you expected it would be.
However, if you are ready for anything, it has the power to change your life forever.
Do you want to learn how to master your online business? CLICK HERE to join my Online Business Mastery Accelerator program!
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