Do you want to start a business? Don’t start a business until you read this.
Here is what I have learned from my personal experience of starting and running successful businesses.
You see people on social media, on Instagram, and on Facebook.
You see the lifestyle of a successful entrepreneur. You see the car that they drive, they are driving the Audi’s or they’re driving a Jaguar or you see the vacation spots, you see their home, you see their house and you see the life that they have and you say to yourself, I want that too, so what I am going to do, I am going to start a business just like them.
Well, are you ready, do you know if you’re ready to be an entrepreneur?
Here are five warning signs that you may not be ready to be in business for yourself just yet.
Want to Start a Business? – 5 Warning Signs
#1 Don’t start a business if you don’t have the stamina
You should not start a business if you don’t have stamina. Stamina I mean a mental toughness to endure pain.
Many years ago, I had this conversation with my mentor and he asked me the question, SK, what do you think is the number one quality of an entrepreneur?
And I said many, many things. I said –
- Talent
- Team
- Good Idea
- Money
I said many, many, many things and no, he said the number one quality of a successful entrepreneur is this, and that is the ability to endure pain for a long period.
Didn’t talk about the Audi, didn’t talk about the big house.
Pain for a long period.
- Is that you?
- What are you willing to give up?
- What price are you willing to pay to accomplish success to build your business?
I could tell you any successful entrepreneurs that I know, almost all of them experience pain for a long period before they accomplish even just a little bit of success.
Everybody wants to talk about the glamorous side of entrepreneurship.
No one wants to talk about the dark side. Are you okay to be able to endure pain for a long period.
Where those nights you cannot sleep, the nights where you don’t know how you’re going to pay off that debt.
Are you okay with that?
Having that responsibility, heavy, heavy responsibility on your shoulder.
#2 Don’t start a business if you want more free time
That’s right. If you start a business, you think, oh, now I can quit my job, the nine to five, five days a week.
Now I’m going to be an entrepreneur, I’m going to be a business owner, and now I’m going to have freedom.
You are dreaming. You might have freedom after working so many years, maybe a decade, then you will have some freedom.
For the first five, or ten years, forget about everything.
First of all, you getting paid last. You pay everybody else before you pay yourself.
So if you think you’re going to get rich quick doing this, no.
When you’re running your own business, there’s no nine to five.
There’s no nine to nine.
It is on your mind 24 x7. When you take time off, you’re not off.
You know what I’m talking about.
You’re thinking about your business, you’re thinking about how to get more customers, you’re thinking about your team, you’re thinking about your employees, you’re thinking about the cash flow problems you have and you’re not gonna get more time cause in the beginning, if you don’t have those specific skills, the learning curve is deep.
It takes a few years just to get a sense, get a feeling and try to find out what works in your business, to crack the code, right, being profitable.
And from there to grow, there’s still a long, long way.
Forget the nine to five. Forget the five days a week. It’s seven days, 24×7. You eat, sleep and drink business.
That’s the life of an entrepreneur. And if you don’t love it and if that’s not in your blood and you want it so bad, you’re not going to do what it takes, you’re not going to make those sacrifices cause it’s too damn tough.
#3 Don’t start a business if you have no money
Don’t start a business if you have no money. If you need money coming in like you need blood in your veins, don’t start a business.
Why?
Because it takes time for a business to mature to generate profit.
If you think you’re gonna start a business and you’re gonna make money in the next two weeks, four weeks, a month, that’s an employee mentality.
As an employee, you get a check, every month. You get a check by the end of the month.
As an entrepreneur, that doesn’t happen.
It might take you six months, it might take you a year, it might take you two years.
Most business owners don’t make a profit until many, many, many years in.
In the meantime, what are you gonna do?
You still gotta eat, right?
You still have to pay the bills.
If you have no money right now, what do you do?
You get a job.
Don’t start a business because a business takes time and it takes effort and it does take money to grow.
Remember to take care of your cash flow needs first before you worry about building an empire.
Take care of your income first.
#4 Don’t start a business if you don’t understand the industry
Before you start any business ask yourself two questions.
Why you and why now?
If your answer is, I just want to make some money, you are going to fail.
What qualifies you to be in this space right now?
Not what you just saw on Facebook. Oh, that sounds like a good idea.
This person, this guy is making so much money doing this, I should jump into that too.
No.
Why you and why now?
To make money in any industry, you have to understand the industry.
If you don’t know the industry, first you have to learn the industry.
Let’s say you want to start your digital marketing agency.
I’m not saying that’s a good idea, but let’s say you want to open up a digital marketing business as I started – RRMediaNet – Digital Marketing Agency.
But before starting I answered both questions Why and Why Now?
Why – I know the digital marketing industry for the past 10 years. I started blogging & digital marketing when only a few people in India have heard about this term.
Why Now – Because we live in a digital era where every business required a digital presence. The whole world is digital. And most importantly I know How I can 5x your online business.
So the thing is you have to know your industry before entering the business.
#5 Don’t start a business if you don’t know how to sell
The number one skill for any entrepreneur is the ability to Sell.
You should know how to sell and how to close the deal.
If you can’t sell you cannot do business.
- Sell = Business
- Sell = Money
- Sell = No #1 Business Skill
I don’t care what it is that you do. You need to get customers, you need to close.
- If you want better terms for financing, you got to close.
- You want better vendors, you got to close.
- If you want partners to help you to promote your business, you got to close.
If you can’t close anyone anytime, if you don’t have that closing mentality and you don’t have that closing skill, you’re not qualified to be in business.
I don’t care what it is that you do, I don’t care what industry you’re in, I don’t care what product or services you sell, you need to be able to close.
So those are the five top warning signs.
So, after all, that, if you say, you know what, I still want it, I’m willing to pay the price, then start your business.
And yes, if you are facing any issue in business or if you are seeking business consultancy get in touch with me at sk@moneyexcel.com.
