Owning your own business is a gift and sometimes a challenge. Well, maybe more often a challenge than not. There are plenty of things that you have to work around, take into account, plan for, and adapt to.
And… there are many things for which entrepreneurs have to be grateful. Here are a handful.
1. Ideas. Yes, so many ideas, possibilities, lovely potential can be the bane of an entrepreneur’s existence, but it’s also the beautiful conundrum. Bright shiny object can actually turn into THE idea.
2. Teams. As an entrepreneur, we tend to be off and running with all those ideas (see #1), and since we have to do a little due diligence, it’s awfully easy to fall into I-can-do-it-myself mode. Hence, teams are our saving grace. They keep us sane, profitable (no more doing our non-genius and non-excellence work), and from being the bottleneck.
3. Google. Have a new idea? (See #1 – of course you do.) Do a little research to see if it’s a viable thing… is there a market? Are other people doing it (a sure sign there’s a market)? What are the problems that this new idea solves? Does it come in purple?
4. Technology. Videos, presentations, webinars are no longer for the early adopters or the rich. Want to do a webinar? You probably have a good portion of what you need already. Technology allows us to connect in a way we never have before – and easily.
5. A wider acceptance for being an entrepreneur (not that we need it, dammit). With almost-mythic entrepreneur heroes like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerman, entrepreneurs aren’t seen as the wide-eyed crazies that they used to be. It’s almost normal to be an entrepreneur.
6. Not being normal. In order to be successful, entrepreneurs have to embrace what makes them unique, different, even weird. Entrepreneurship is one area where weird is celebrated.
7. Freedom. Want to work from home in your pajamas? Go for it. Want to design your days so that you wake up at 10am and get your best work in at 5:00pm? Entrepreneurship was almost made for you. Most of us entrepreneurs become our own bosses because we want freedom from all sorts of things and flexibility in our lives.
8. The most in-depth personal development program. I haven’t met an entrepreneur yet who hasn’t gone through major personal changes, seemingly as a result of being an entrepreneur. You have to set standards, put boundaries in place to uphold those standards, become attractive so you can attract ideal clients, and believe wholeheartedly in yourself. It’s your own version of any Tony Robbins course.
9. Resourcefulness. You don’t have a weekly salary to depend on. You don’t have an entire marketing department that is in charge of advertising for the company. You don’t have a 100-person sales force. That means YOU have to do a lot of the work, at least until you expand (see #2). What that further means is that you get pretty damn good at coming up with side-door entry points around a problem.
10. Authenticity. You get to be you. Along with #6, you are only going to succeed if you stand out from the crowd. That means you have to claim and celebrate what makes you different – and then proclaim that to the world. “No matter how you define success, you will need to be resilient, empowered, authentic, and limber to get there.” ~ Joanie Connell
I would love to hear how this resonates with you… tell me what you’re grateful for around being an entrepreneur in the comments below.
Dawn Shuler, Content Creator Extraordinaire, helps entrepreneurs and authors convey their deep message into compelling words, whether it's marketing material or a book, as well as to create powerful content to increase their credibility, visibility, and profitability. Her soul purpose is to help entrepreneurs unleash their authentic selves into their businesses through their content. She created the Writing From Your Soul system to help business owners connect more powerfully, reach more people, and make a difference. Download the free, 13-step system at www.WritingFromYourSoul.com.
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