What the heck is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into? They are going to eat you alive!!! I’m sure some of you have heard these same comments from good friends and well-meaning family members when you told them of your plans to strike out on your own, and start or buy a business. Well, I’m here to tell you…They may be right.
We all have dreams of owning our own business and being in control of our own destiny. We envision the casual stroll into the well furnished office, greeting our admiring fans…I mean employees, as they are busily doing what they do so well. You walk to your desk and enjoy the hot coffee that just happens to be waiting for you. You peer through the giant window panes to oversee the operation as your well-dressed secretary goes over your daily schedule with you. Yes…this is the life, to be your own boss.
Well, I hate to break your bubble but let’s leave Fantasy Land and join the real world for a minute. The truth is you may not have a boss anymore but now you have hundreds or more, if you’re lucky. Only now they are called customers and boy can they get loud. They are not nearly as loyal as your present boss and they think that you should work for free.
You hardly see your employees when you walk in because, when they do decide to come in, you have already been there for hours doing their work for them so they won’t quit. You may be great at managing people but you are too busy finding the work, than doing the work. So you have no time to spend developing people like you would hope to. Then, when you finally get home at 8:00 pm, you get yelled at by your spouse for missing dinner and the little league game again.
Then it happens…its Saturday night and you are in the basement doing the books with a bottle of Jack Daniels and you actually hear yourself saying “What the heck is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into? They are going to eat you alive!!!” You realize that you could be making two times the money, working half the time for someone else. You have hit Rock Bottom.
This is not an unusual scenario. Working for yourself is easily twice as hard at the beginning than being employed. It is hard to explain the feeling of always being on call until you have done it, and have had money on the line with it. The stress it puts on your marriage and family is the stuff of legend. You need to think long and hard and have your support partner completely on board from the start. They need to read this too.
If you are still excited about your new venture then read on.
You’re not out of the woods yet. That previous scenario needs to actually excite you. You need to have chills up and down your spine that you will beat the averages, that you are up for the challenge and that your idea is so good, and your work ethic is so strong and passion so great that you can’t sleep anyway and you may as well be making money. If not, run, run for the hills!!! You will spend your life’s savings and then some. You will punish your pride and self esteem to such an extent that you may never want to wake up again. You marriage and family life will be harmed. In short YOU WILL SUFFER!!!
Good news?
The good news is this. If you can get past that “Rock Bottom”, you remember, that night in the basement with the bottle of Jack, and then you’ve made it. Then you understand that it’s you and not your circumstances that allow you to succeed. Then you no longer expect or demand your right to be the boss…you’ve earned it. Now your mindset is forever changed and there is nothing you can’t do. Money seems to come from many places that you never imagined. Customers and employees love to do business with you. Family and friends like and respect you. And your dreams (through hard, painful but fun work) have come true. And… you can peer through the giant window panes to oversee the operation as your well-dressed secretary goes over your daily schedule with you. Yes…this is the life, to be your own boss.