We all dream of becoming successful. While some prefer having a simple life, simply relying on our day job may not be sufficient to secure the future of the family.
Sometimes the best way to provide for the needs of the family is to start our own business.
Building a business is hard work. You need to figure out the best location for the business, secure permits, hire people; the list goes on. All these tasks require time and effort. To become an entrepreneur means to sacrifice a lot.
- Leisure Time: Starting a business requires a lot of time. You need to focus not only on one aspect of the business, but the entirety of it. Time with family and friends may be sacrificed.
Instead of relaxing and hanging around with friends, entrepreneurs would find themselves working more than 8 hours a day, and sometimes even on weekends. So if you used to be a happy-go-lucky guy, entrepreneurship could be a whole new world which could shock you in the first few months. - Money: Starting a business means having to spend your hard-earned money. If you used to party every weekend or go out on trips with your family and friends, that may have to change.
Starting a business means having to cut down on your expenses. Every centavo should count as you focus on sustaining the business. - Properties and Assets: You may have to let go of some of your possessions as you try to sustain your business. But you should not look at it in a negative light. Look at your house and think about the things you don’t need which you can sell. You can look at it as an opportunity to declutter your home.
- Sleep: Entrepreneurs, like doctors who are always on call, need to always keep their line open so that clients and staff with important concerns can reach them anytime. You can’t just turn off your mobile phone as you may receive important phone calls every now and them. Sometimes you may have to sacrifice sleep.
- Comfort Zone: As an entrepreneur, you need to always put your best foot forward and challenge yourself. As an entrepreneur, you need to talk to a lot of people, take new roles to run the business, make decisions that you’ve never made before and take time in learning new things that will help your business. Getting out of your comfort zone is inevitable.
- Popularity: An entrepreneur must be able to make tough decisions for the benefit of the company even if these decisions prove to be unpopular.
- Mental Health: An entrepreneur may endure a lot of stress because of the demands of the business. Sometimes he may feel burnt out. But because the employees of a company get their strength from their leader, giving up is not an option.
All these sacrifices may seem overwhelming, but the entrepreneurs behind the giant brands today endured these challenges and came out on top. The effort was worth it in the end.
Sacrifice fun today for financial freedom tomorrow.
Get his latest book “35 Tips On Business” available on E-book and paperback at www.amazon.com
(Armando Bartolome is known as the Philippines’ Franchise Guru, a business mentor to numerous micro entrepreneurs who are now themselves big names in the industry. This article is reposted with the author’s permission and was previously published on The Business Mentor column posted by ABSCBN News. For questions and more information, you may contact Armando “Butz” Bartolome by email: philfranchiseguru@gmail.com or on Twitter @philfranguru. His website is www.gmb.com.ph)
