The idea of becoming an entrepreneur seems to really hit a lot of us when we are under a great deal of stress. Work pressures or the thought of being your own boss makes entrepreneurship sound really grand, no doubt about it. The truth is, there probably isn’t a “perfect” time to take the leap, but there are times when it’s most likely going to end up in disaster.
If you’re waiting for the right time to start your own business, you’ll be waiting forever. Unless of course you are independently wealthy and don’t have a care in the world. However, money isn’t the only object that moves a start-up from concept to success.
Operation: Desperation
Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? This isn’t always the case. Starting your career as an entrepreneur should never be a last-ditch effort to save you from yourself or whatever circumstances you are dealing with in life. In fact, that’s probably the worst time possible.
We go through periods in our lives where nothing seems to be going right. We might feel hopeless or believe a drastic change is necessary to find happiness.
Maybe you’re in a job you despise, or you and your boss can’t seem to get along no matter how hard you try. Don’t let that fool you into jumping ship on a whim.
Becoming a successful entrepreneur takes planning and research. A dedication like you’ve never experienced before. Your entire life as you know it is going to change the moment you decide to go for it, and more times than not, it gets incredibly harder before it gets any easier.
Failure is Real
Being an entrepreneur comes with a great risk: failure. If you are already in a precarious situation where you feel you’ve failed, having a business idea you’ve brought to fruition fail isn’t the best medicine for your ego or confidence. You need to be in a position to know, and understand, that a failure in the world of entrepreneurship doesn’t mean the end. You’ve got to have the gumption to get up, dust yourself off and start again.
Too many times folks end up regretting their decision to go for it because they made a rash decision before they were really ready. The consequences could be extreme. It’s a game of skill, determination and… luck.
Reasons Not to Jump Ship and Start Your Career as an Entrepreneur
- You hate your boss
- You hate your job
- You can’t pay your bills
- You want a flexible schedule
- You believe it will be easier to be your own boss
- You want more play time
- You are looking for notoriety or fame
When you make a hasty decision, you will secure a future of more illogical decisions based solely on desperation rather than success.
It’s similar to telling a lie. At first the lie seems to work and you’re happy you’ve escaped. But then, you’ve got to tell another lie to cover the first, and then comes another and another. Pretty soon you are sinking in a sea of lies and can’t tell where the truth begins.
That’s how it feels when you start your entrepreneurial adventure out of sheer desperation. Your making bad decision after bad decision just to stay afloat.
Being your own boss is hard enough, don’t make the mistake of adding another layer of stress to the mix!
When is the Best Time?
The short answer: There isn’t one. But there are better times to start realizing your dreams of being an entrepreneur. It’s much like starting a family. You could be financially stable and the nursery already planned, but are you ready? What have you done to ensure you are capable financially, physically and mentally for the work ahead of you?
If you are already stressed out, it’s hard to make sound decisions, and if you want your new business to last, you need to make the best possible decisions. You need to be confident in your direction, not scattered and grasping at straws.
In the entrepreneurial world you are going to faced with challenges you couldn’t have possibly thought to plan for, thus you’ll need the ability to be strategic in your planning and decision-making.
If you are frazzled, pulling your hair out and praying your karma points will at least get you over this hurdle, how will you be able to handle the stress when you are everything. You are the boss. You are the employee. You are the research and development team. You are payroll and accounting. You are the very life, and could be the death, of your new company.
So, the long and short of it? It always sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it? To be your own boss and run things the way you want to without having to answer to a single soul. And it is very possible! That’s the beauty of it!
Starting your career as an entrepreneur isn’t a quick-fix, so don’t treat it like one. Just make sure you’re doing this when you have all your wits about you and not out of sheer desperation.
