Starting a business demands a lot – and when we say a lot – it means almost everything!
Many people get into business in a bit of a haste not realizing how much they need to give up in order to achieve the results they want. Truth is, starting a business does need more than giving up your job and your financial security – you may actually need to give up your all!
What may one need to give up when starting a business? Here are 7 of them!
1. Job Security
Whether you are giving up only a few hours at your job or you’re really quitting your role, starting a business means giving up your job security.
Let’s say you choose to be a 5 to 9 entrepreneur and choose not to quit your job just yet; as your business grows, you would eventually need to work fewer hours at your job and spend more time in building your business, or you might eventually need to give up your role, thus, giving up job security.
When you are an employee, you get to regularly receive a paycheck, maybe monthly or bi-monthly. But when you become an entrepreneur, you will never know when you’ll get your next income, and you will never know how much. And you don’t even get to have the benefits an employee has.
Now if you really want to be an entrepreneur and yet have job security, you really need to think a hundred times before embarking on your entrepreneurial journey.
2. Financial Security
When you are employed, you know when you get your salary, you know how much you get, and you know where your money goes. This, however, will suddenly change when you start a business. As mentioned previously, when you become an entrepreneur, you never know when and how much income you will get. Moreover, you may also need to skimp on a few things just to get by. This doesn’t even include emergency expenses you need for your business. So, if you aren’t ready to give up your financial security, you might need to reassess yourself if you really want to start a business.
3. Routine
Being in a 9 to 5 job involves routine. You wake up, eat breakfast, commute to work, work 8 to 9 hours, and then get home. When you start a business, everything changes! You may need to skip breakfast sometimes as you have an early client call. You may need to work until midnight to complete a presentation needed for the next day. You may need to give up your weekends, because, let’s face it – having your own business means you need to attend to it like, 24/7! Starting a business is never a walk in the park!
4. Reputation
So, you want to quit your job because you want to start a business? Well, then you might need to give up your reputation as a good employee. When you share this “grand idea” to your family, they might say you are going nuts for giving up a corporate career for something that is full of uncertainty. Yes, you will lose your reputation when you start a business. You will lose face for starting something that isn’t as stable as the next job available. You will lose your reputation. Period.
5. Leisure and Pleasure
Love Friday and Saturday nights? Do you love hanging out with your friends over coffee just about almost every day? Do love shopping or going on leisure trips with your friends? Here’s some truth slap – you need to give these all up! You may need to work and hustle on weekends when you start a business. You may need to give up shopping or going on trips because you need that money to use it as a capital for your business. You may need to give up your life of leisure and pleasure so you could turn your dream of being an entrepreneur into reality. It can be challenging to just change your lifestyle, but you need to give it up in order to begin your entrepreneurial journey.
6. Control
It’s easy to have control when you know how things work, how things are, how things will be. But when everything is uncertain, control is the last thing you could ever have, especially when you are starting a business. You may have goals and targets for your business, but you will never know for sure when you will achieve them. There will be a lot of boo-boos at the beginning and you will not be able to take control of every situation. Starting a business means losing your control on things until everything gets stable.
7. Certainty
There is never any certainty when you are an entrepreneur. The business demands may change, your customers can be fickle, and you may or may not earn from your business. There is never any certainty especially when you are just starting a business. All you can have is faith. Faith that everything will work out.
The most successful entrepreneurs gave up almost everything at the start of their business.
Steve Wozniak gave up his stable job at Hewlett Packard to join Apple.
Sara Blakely gave up financial security (and even her life savings) when she started patenting Spanx.
Daymond John gave up his routine of going to work at Red Lobster and even became a 5 to 9 entrepreneur when he started the apparel line F.U.B.U.
These are just a few entrepreneurs we have mentioned, but if you ask the next entrepreneur, for sure, they have a similar story!
Entrepreneurs know they need to give up a lot in order to achieve what they want. Bottomline is, starting a business is never easy and is really demanding. But the rewards are great so long as you persevere. If you are ready to give up just almost about everything to pursue your passion in business, then it might just be the right time to start your entrepreneurial journey.
