So you want to be your own boss…
Let’s dive right into that.
Allegedly, 26% of entrepreneurs start their own business because they want to be their own boss. I can’t speak for the other 74% or why they start their own business, but I’m going to address the 26% right now.
Entrepreneurs are generally “unemployable.” I’m sure all the entrepreneurs reading this don’t necessarily want to hear that, but it’s true — they’re pretty crazy.
But the general yearn for wanting to be your own boss is really a desire for freedom.
But that’s not exactly what happens when you become an entrepreneur.
Think about it: Your business serves a lot of people — largely your customers or clients and the team members you employ. You’re accountable to a lot of people. It’s not just being accountable to yourself.
Becoming an entrepreneur might mean that you have to trade in a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM for a 9:00 AM to 5:00 AM, and that could end up being a 100-hour week. Is that the freedom you had in mind?
If you’ve ever seen the movie Cool Runnings, you’ll know it’s about a Jamaican bobsled team going to the Olympics. There’s a scene in the movie where Derice, the leader of the team, stays in despite the rest of his team going out because he’s got to study the routes and have a plan in place.
The same concept goes for being your own boss. There will be a lot of trade-offs of being the person who is disciplined and anticipating where the organization is going
Are you willing to be the one person up at 3:00 in the morning if there’s a problem that needs to be solved? When it’s your business, every problem will become your problem.
Think about it long and hard before you decide to become your own boss. If you don’t want to answer to anybody, you’re probably not going to have any clients because ultimately you will need to answer to them. No matter how big you get and how much your business grows, if you’re in the people business, you’re always serving somebody.
