Things No One Will Tell You About Being Your Own Boss
We are not all cut out to be entrepreneurs. Some people are just wired to remain within an organised workforce to function and stay productive.
If that is you, don’t sweat it. Just get the best kind of job that matches your ability, give it your best, grown in the ranks, invest your money and even become an invested partner in the business if that is possible within the organisation that you work for.
However, when you know that you are wired differently or if you catch the “sack your boss” bug, just know that there are unadvertised consequences of self-employment. And in this article, I will save you time and tell you what to expect with the hope that it will guide you as you make your move along the path of “self-bosshood”
You might not win this
Yes, it is good to think positively and also believe. But I practice what I call “positive realism”. I want to be positive while being mindful of the realities. And based on statistics, it is only a few businesses that make it. Apart from that, your best ideas or first idea might not end up being your money idea.
Yes, it is good to think positively and also believe. But I practice what I call “positive realism”. I want to be positive while being mindful of the realities. And based on statistics, it is only a few businesses that make it. Apart from that, your best ideas or first idea might not end up being your money idea.
This means that you might need to kiss many frogs in the form of ideas before you meet your prince charming. Are you ready for that?
Are you ready and mentally prepared to give in your life and blood and still watch your ideas and efforts go all up in smoke?
This is why mental toughness is key.
This is why I advocate for an oath of allegiance—swear to yourself that you will never give up on your pursuit no matter what happens.
The market won’t take you more seriously than you take yourself
This is the mistake that so many employees making the transition to employers make. They feel that the respect and regards they had while doing a 9 to 5 will still be there when they set out on their own.
This doesn’t happen. You will have to tuck in your tail and work. CEO, CFO, COO and all of those don’t get you noticed any longer by anyone. You need to “show workings” to be taken seriously.
Also, some others hide under the guise of a good idea and just assume that the market will bow to them because they have created the next best thing since sliced bread. This is a farce. Nobody cares.
Sitting pretty with your legs crossed, whistle in mouth, thinking that the world will beat a path to your door? It won’t happen. And even if it does, it might take too long.
You have to go out there and talk to people, demonstrate your brilliance and convince people on why they should listen to you.
You must buy and use what you sell
My rule is, “if I can’t use it, I can’t sell it”.
If you sell accounting software, you must use it. If you sell web hosting, you must use it. If you sell hair, you must use it or get your sister or spouse to use it.
This is because it is hard to convince someone to buy something that you are not convinced about yourself.
And the sweetest part is that when you use your stuff, anyone who fails to understand its potential looks foolish to you.
That way, “no” changes it’s meaning for you. In fact, every no you get fuels your resolve to get closer to a wiser person who will say “yes” to you.
If you’re selling what you can’t use, you won’t be enthusiastic about it. And since selling is a transfer of enthusiasm, you will be grossly inadequate on this.
You must be a salesman
When starting out, nobody ever tells you that you will need to be the number one and best salesman in your business. I mean, selling is the number one job of a business owner. Even if you outsource every other part of your business, this one must never leave you.
You must sell your product
You must sell yourself to investors
And at the end, you might even have to sell the business!
So when you want to start out, the number one skill you should learn, master and love is selling.
If you have to sell and just can’t get yourself to love the idea of loving strangers enough to ask them to exchange money with you, then you are best favored to remain on the payroll of another salesman or just go home and manage a life that sucks!
Yeah. Nobody tells you this from the start.
You are the first and most important employee
If the idea of sacking your boss is the only fancy reason why you want to go on your own, I will advise that you consider some more.
This is because when you start your own business, you have only changed your boss not sack him. And the problem is that your new ‘customer boss’ is meaner than what you have imagined.
Miss an opportunity to be a good employee and he will punish you hard for it.
And no matter how many people you eventually employee in your business, you will still be employed by the customer to do them right and do it often.
And the funny thing is that even if all other employees fail or even resign, you must still be there standing and serving even if you have to do it alone.
Did anybody tell you that when set out being your own boss?
I doubt.
You will need people smarter than you
The hallmark of a smart entrepreneur is his ability to manage those who are smarter than him to get results that he wants.
If you love to be the smartest in the group, you might not attract quality talents. And even when you do, you will stifle them and they will eventually leave you.
People will cheat and hate you
Success has friends they say. But nobody tells you that success also has many enemies.
If you hate to be hated, cheated and lied to, then there is a gangbuster of surprises waiting for you ahead.
When you begin to make progress, get featured on TV, do trade exhibitions, share testimonies of how you have started selling out your products, haters, trolls an all will all come in their droves, get ready!
Some people you will do business with will cheat and steal your stuff and tell you “bros, you na self-made entrepreneur na. Leave this small one for those of us wey still dey hustle”
Get ready.
I am sure nobody has ever told you this, but now I have.
This, however, should not make you to deem your light. It should rather help you to audit your circle, protect your territory and get more prepared to treat an idiot like one!
Entrepreneurship is TOUGH
It will break your back. It will break your soul. It will test your grit and everything that makes you sane.
This is why you need to toughen up.
Forget all those Instagram quotes and pictures. It will take you many years of tears, sorrow and losses before you ever breathe.
Some business doesn’t break even until a whole decade.
So you will need more patience than money.
The vacations might come especially if you stay true and long in the game. But just don’t expect it to be there the next morning.
Be ready to break your back and take the punches while tilling the trenches. In this path, the day might just take a little bit longer to come.
#9: Be comfortable to fail. As an entrepreneur, you have got to redefine failure. You don’t become one when things don’t go your way, you do when you quit and abandon the dream.
On this path, you will fail a lot, just don’t become a failure by making quitting and giving up an option.
A lot of your best ideas won’t work.
Many of your best products won’t bring money, just learn the lessons and move on.
In all, you only need one of your ideas or a few of them to become a superstar and sensational success in the game.
As an entrepreneur, it is either you win or you learn and either way, you are ahead of the pack.
You must embrace this reality and stay true to camp because that is the only way to see the light.
Everyone isn’t your customer
Yes, get that right. Not everyone will buy, deal with that.
No matter what you sell, if you start a business and somehow believe that everyone will buy, you are sleeping on a speeding bicycle.
So, when I ask a hot-headed entrepreneur to show me his ideal client and he goes ahead to mention “everyone”, I know I am dealing with one who is yet to come alive or one who will never live.
Even if you invent the cure for cancer today, just know that not every cancer patient will buy.
And if you invent a way to live forever right now, may it also be known to you that some people don’t want to stay alive that long!
When you get this idea…hopefully, early too, you will then be more focused on finding your ideal clients and what makes them buy.
Then go ahead and sell a truckload of your stuff to them.
You will need more motivation and knowledge
Right now, motivational speakers and everything that uplifts the mind should be your go-to place.
We all need a pump in this race. Some days, you won’t just feel your leg let alone your heart or hands to work anything when we need them the most.
To help me win, I have a lot of motivational speakers on repeat. It doesn’t matter if I trust them or not, the point is that they get enough blood flowing to my head to help me dream and work.
High tempo music also helps. They get you moving and before you know it, the necessarily beast mode that you need to get to the other side must have been turned on.
So, motivational speakers are your best friends. Welcome them daily and thank me later.
You will need more courage than money
Courage is money. Write that out and paste it somewhere you can see it daily. That’s what I have done myself.
The person with the most courage has the most money. Why? Because money follows courage just the way it follows value.
You will need the courage to ask for the sale.
You will need the courage to hire people who are smarter than you and hope that they will be true to the vision.
You will need the courage to stake your life and resources to a venture you don’t even know if it will work.
You will need the courage to rise and try again even when you are beaten down.
You will need the courage to believe and try again and harder even when the experts tell you to park and go home.
There you have them. Those are some of the unadvertised hardcore truths about the journey of being your own boss. I hope you enjoy and endure them.
To your #moneysense.
