It eventually pays to be an entrepreneur. But let’s face it, most entrepreneurs are failing at starting and growing successful businesses. Lots of studies have confirmed that just about 10 percent of new businesses make the cut and succeed. Everything doesn’t go as planned when you start a business. You win some, you lose some. But unfortunately most entrepreneurs are losing the battle to stay in business. As you aspire to become an entrepreneur, it is important to dispel many of the misperceptions about being an entrepreneur.
These are six of the many lies about being an entrepreneur you probably believe but shouldn’t.
1. The money will come eventually. You think that if your idea is top-notch, if the product/service you’re offering solves a real problem, or if you have true passion and drive, that your company will succeed and eventually start making some real money.
This is a fallacy. It’s easy when you’re busy growing your company to buy into this lie, but incredibly dangerous. It may be true that there is a pot of gold further down the road, but you can’t just count on it being there. You must plan for it. — Forbes
2. You have to give up your life to grow a small business. Many of us start our businesses with the dream of creating a better life…only to find ourselves chained to the business working 50-60-79 hours a week. If you start out with this mindset, you’ll end up creating a business that requires you to work all the time with no end in sight.
It’s true you may need to work long hours sometimes—especially in the beginning. But working yourself to the bone day in and day out is a recipe for burnout. Instead you need a plan for getting yourself out of that trap ASAP. — Startup Nation
3. You don’t need a business plan. Okay, you don’t need a lengthy business plan that nobody is going to read, but you do need a business model and a marketing plan. What this means, in plain English, is that you need to know how you will make money and find customers. Anyone who talks to you about starting a business and doesn’t mention this should be ignored. — The Grand Life
4. If something isn’t working, I can always change direction. Pivoting is an essential startup business practice. Knowing when to change direction, tweaking your offerings, and repositioning yourself in the marketplace are all good things. But this isn’t a magic bullet. You can’t just shift with the wind and expect things to work out. A direction change needs to be based on number-driven data that guides and supports your plan. Before you change direction, you need to map out what steps you will take.– Forbes
5. Entrepreneurs love risk. As a serial entrepreneur myself, I don’t enjoy gambling. Why would I? I don’t have any control over the outcome. Great entrepreneurs prefer to remove as much risk from their endeavor as possible, only taking very calculated risks where they feel they have an advantage and they can influence the outcome.
This is intelligent risk-taking where the odds are very much in their favor. Why go to a casino where you have no control? (Unless, perhaps, you were on the MIT Blackjack Team, many of whom, by the way, went on to become successful entrepreneurs.) — Bill Aulet, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management
6. Sales will be better next month. Many entrepreneurs believe that sales will always increase in the future. They reason that with more revenue, there will be more profit. The truth: They don’t change their sales and marketing efforts to give their company a better chance at actually increasing sales. To boost revenue, companies need to be there when customers want to buy. Only a systematic sales and marketing effort will accomplish this.– Small Business Trends
It’s not all bad news. Think about what the 10 percent of successful businesses do everyday to be successful. Do your home work and find out what works in your industry. Don’t hesitate to start a business if it’s the right thing to do for your. You don’t have to wait for a perfect idea to start a business.
What you need is a validated idea that promises to be successful. The bottom line is this; the cheapest times to be an entrepreneur is now. There are now some of the cheapest resources out there to get started, so get to it and solve that problem you have been thinking about.
“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.” Roy Ash