Last Updated on November 16, 2018 by Jessica Adams
More people than ever before are taking the leap to become Entrepreneurs. It’s a tempting space for anyone who thinks they have an idea to solve a problem or new service to offer. Even the media loves to glamorize entrepreneurs and their “brave journey”.
So it’s no surprise that so many people decide to quit their day job and branch out on their own incredible journeys. But there are some serious entrepreneurial challenges no one warns you about.
Of course, most blogs and small business websites on the topic of becoming an entrepreneur, still encourage everyone to follow your dreams despite those challenges.
People seem to view being an entrepreneur through “rose-colored glasses”. They fail to see all the hard work and sacrifices that one must inevitably make.
Let’s peel back some of the layers that have been cloaked over these issues. These are challenges, some of which we can guarantee, will happen to you at some point.
Entrepreneurial Challenges
No One Warns You About
You’re Going To Be Exhausted – A Lot
There’s something to be said for working a 9-5 job where you can just switch off all the chaos of your day at work, as soon as you walk through your front door. The same goes for escaping your home life during your busy, distracting and family-free work day.
If you are planning to do the same when you start your own business, the chances are it will fail within a year. Fatigue and exhaustion are major issues which no one ever really talks about and can impact you and your business in many ways.
You’ll be in stressful situations and exposed to poor health because even your mood can have an effect on your physical productivity. Exhaustion results in crankiness, which will most definitely translate to not working well with others and/or clients.
So get your 7-8 hours of recommended sleep, regardless of your “spare time”. If you need to schedule your sleep in order to actually get some, then do it!
24/7 Culture
In our “online all the time” culture, it is possible to work with clients from all over the world. If your online store hours are 8am – 5pm, someone should be online and available to chat live with customers during those hours.
Even though the live chat support leaves for the day at 5pm, your website is literally “always open” for business. So you should make sure that you have a Managed Service Provider to look after your site 24/7, so you don’t feel that you have to!
Having an MSP also carries the added benefit of monitoring your daily backups. This will keep you from spending an entire day to find one little problem. Let that expert find it in under an hour.
Lack of Time
While we are on the subject of time, from the moment you start your business you will find you have very little. Distractions will be everywhere, and you’ll find little things that need doing will appear with alarming regularity.
How can you get past this stage? Good planning will help. Identify the essential and cut the rest. And always make sure that you keep stepping outside of your business – mentally, we mean – so you can distinguish the opportunities from the time drains.
Processes
Once you start expanding your business, it can be hard to deal with hiring, on-boarding, HR, running your finances, and marketing. Business-related phone calls and keeping up with clients is all you may have the time to do on your own.
Streamlining all of your processes so that you can be fast and efficient throughout the day, is the first solution. Fortunately, creating processes to use in your business has so many benefits. Customized, step-by-step systems to get things done, so that everyone knows how to do everything around your office. Yeah…
The second is to learn how to delegate and better trust the people you bring into your business to help you with the day-to-day stuff. Of course, we get that this is your “baby” and as an entrepreneur, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, trust someone with that baby. But at some point, like in “real” life, you have to learn let go, little by little.
Running a business is tough but making it successful is harder than you might think. With the seemingly minor challenges being a particularly stubborn roadblock. Good luck!
Edited by Jessica Rose Adams
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