Other Side of Being an Entrepreneur Failure is an inevitable part of entrepreneurship and realizing it makes it easier to accept
By Deepak Choudhary •
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Entrepreneurship is like a roller coaster ride. Happiness and madness knock your door at the same time. Every motivational quote you have ever read about struggle, pain, blood, sweat, and hard work it takes to succeed are more than just words, they are raw facts. Being an entrepreneur isn't all fun-and-games, here are few facets of being an entrepreneur:
No Work-life Balance
Becoming an entrepreneur is not an easy achievement as it comes with its own sets of challenges and setbacks. An entrepreneur cannot afford the luxury of taking a break while starting out a new enterprise. Running an entire business comes with added pressure. Achieving a well- balanced work and home life is way more difficult than you can imagine.
One is lonely on this journey. Your circle will get limited to oneself and your employees. Missing important family events and occasions will be common. The most important thing "Things never go as planned'. You will have high work time, sleepless nights but it is nothing before your love for the passion.
Failures
Failure is an inevitable part of entrepreneurship and realizing it makes it easier to accept. However, the ability to recover from a failure, minor or major, is what makes the difference. Before starting your journey as an entrepreneur, you should seriously think whether you are mentally tough enough to cope up with the stress of failure. Your entire company might go under. If it doesn't, there will be some other failure, massive or minor, that will interfere with your plans and compromise your vision.
The obstacle of failure is ever-present and always daunting when you're leading a business, and working through that failure is too much for some. However, the ability to recover from failure is what separates super successes from the rest. Remember, nothing is wasted. At the end of the day either you are going to be the winner or more experienced person.
Big Responsibility
An employee is only responsible for his job but a leader is responsible for the whole company. Something that makes the difference between average and successful business is the responsibility of an entrepreneur. If you want to build a successful business, you must be entirely responsible for that.
The Pressure of Raising Capital
There is no denying that finance is the lifeblood of every business; big or small. Some businesses take years until they make a profit. The main trouble that small businesses face while accessing funds/finance is the problem of uncertainty. A small business is seriously handicapped by lack of past record that potential lenders can analyze to determine whether or not to furnish the small business with the required fund needed for expansion. For most startups, banks and other financial institutions cannot get insightful information about your business. Entrepreneurs are demanded to provide:
detailed business plan
list of the firm's assets
details of the experience of directors and managers
how they intend to provide security for the amount
An unimaginable amount of stress and pressure exists even at the beginning of the journey.
Competition/Staying Relevant
Business competitions are vital to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Competitors will always exist—no matter what you do. So, rather than approaching competition with dread, you should view your competitors as the impetus for innovation and fuel to do things differently and better!
Steve Jobs has rightly remarked, "It is not fun for sane people. One should be exceedingly passionate about his/her idea to do this day in and day out."
