Yes, running your own business is rewarding, but no one ever tells you when it gets to be rewarding and that before that happens its a confusing and difficult time of transition.
Even the rat race, while we all hate to be in it, is at least comforting in its predictability. As an entrepreneur, there are now two processes I have to habitualise and develop to keep doing what I’m doing. These are:
- The Will To Act, &
- The Endurance of Risk
The Will To Act
As straight forward as it may seem, it is the first one that has been a nightmare to come to terms with. To get up and to set a plan for the day and to then go on and complete the tasks listed is perhaps the single greatest challenge I have ever come across. People in jobs find this much easier to do for two reasons. First of all they have momentum. For the most part they have been doing what they do for a long time so, going to work and “working” carries a very strong inertia. Employees also know that if they are ill or lazy or hung over or need to take a holiday, for the most part the company they work for will not shut down and die in their absence.
Running your own business, there is no momentum (at least not at first), the business stops when you stop and there is no “Big Brother” watching – the will to act and the motivation to do this on a day to day, hour upon hour basis is a test of endurance and stamina – two things I will admit, I had in short supply at first, but I seem to be finally accumulating more and more of both.
The Endurance of Risk
I seem to be coping better with the risk element of being an entrepreneur than I had at first anticipated. Sure, the fact that my income now depends almost entirely on my own efforts and that it may take a while before these efforts are rewarded, did scare me at first, but I am at least no longer afraid of failing. After all, I have little commitments, no children and no credit card bills to pay; as long as I have a roof over my head for the next few months, success or failure, nothing much will change in my lifestyle as a student to that of being a poor entrepreneur.
“Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance.”