Starting up a business requires a huge leap of faith from your day job. Added to that, you have to invest money, set up spaces, buy assets, hire people, and invest more just so that your business is up, running, and profitable (in time). Yet, a simple process like that doesn’t go as planned. Did you ever stop to think why? Here are the reasons:
Set up and that’s good; shouldn’t the customer come walking in?
Customers don’t come walking in. You have to give them a real good reason to come to you. That’s when the quality of your products and services begins to matter. But just creating good products and services is not enough; there’s more to business than just that. There’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition), there’s value that customers get from you that they don’t get when they deal with your competition; and there’s that emotional connect. Your workflow – as a business owner – runs deep into different channels and aspects of your business to make all of these elements fall into place. Are you up to it
Develop an unhealthy aversion to selling
It’s alarming to see that a growing number of people want to become entrepreneurs while hating the very concept of selling. No business can ever exist without sales and no entrepreneur is worth anything without mastering the skill of selling – be it online, offline, or on the street. The greatest of the businesses have been founded on a history of sales pitches, deals, and partnerships. All of these successful businesses are the result of salesmanship. Selling is like any other job, and it’s an honorable one.
Business needs investments: one-time, recurring, and all the time
You don’t invest much (except for college education, continuous learning, grooming, etc.) when you work on a job. The moment you take the plunge into entrepreneurship by choosing self-employment or business, the scene changes. You’ll have to invest to get some returns out of it; there’s no other way around this.
For instance, when marketing your business, you’d spend on necessary infrastructure, people, websites, creating marketing material, developing promotional items such as branded stationery (which includes promotional bags, folders, diaries, USB sticks, CDs and DVDs, and much more). It requires you to invest in advertising, media buying, developing marketing channels, etc.
It takes money to make money. What do you want to do?
Giving up just when it’s getting better
Since one of the most important entrepreneurial traits of a good entrepreneur is strong resolve, resilience, and a teeny-weeny bit of craziness, you’d realize that not many people are like that. Most of us are coy, timid, and don’t want to risk much – be it our image, reputation, or money. Entrepreneurs, ironically, have to do all of that to succeed. Since you need to stick to your guns for long periods of time being someone most people can’t be, it’s a challenge. Most people give up on that challenge. Businesses often fail within a year or two of starting up and this is one of the reasons why. Get that resolve. Prepare for long haul. Giving up is a punishment, not a favor.
