You are dreaming about being your own boss? You don’t see yourself anymore as an employee and you want to become an entrepreneur? Stopping to work the 5-7 and starting living your dreams is totally possible for everyone! But you need to know the reality of becoming an entrepreneur. It is a slow process and it requires hard work, patience, and determination! Many people underestimate the amount of work and sacrifices you have to do to be your own boss. You often start your business with nothing and you have to build everything from zero. Becoming an entrepreneur is a way of life and a way of thinking.
This post is for all the persons that want to create their own business. Whether you are starting a business online, creating a restaurant or your clothing brand, this is the same process! Read on 😉
Why do you want to become an entrepreneur?
First of all, you need to ask yourself why you want to be an entrepreneur? To earn more money? become rich? or escape your horrible boss? These are all the wrong reasons! The only good reason to create your own company is passion. If you are not passionate you will not succeed. You need to have a light inside you that makes you jump out of the bed every morning. Become an entrepreneur is harder than you can imagine, so you need a good reason and a strong motivation to succeed. Only passion can do that!
Do it by passion, not for money!
You won’t succeed if all you want is to make money! You need to have a fire burning inside you, a real passion in your daily life. Something stronger than the rest, and the will to share this with others. You need to bring the sunshine in someone else life. Turning a passion into a business is not easy, but turning a business into a passion is impossible. Moreover, making money with your passion will be a very slow process, that requires many concessions, so if you’re not really passionated you will quickly quit!
Become an entrepreneur is a lifestyle
You will never see a successful entrepreneur spending his time in a nightclub, drinking alcohol, spending money on luxury bags and staying with losers. Usually, successful people wake up early, work hard, eat healthily and practice a sport. Why? Simply because to be an entrepreneur requires a healthy life, a healthy mind, rigor, and discipline. Also, becoming an entrepreneur is so hard that you will need to have the right people by your side. Be careful with who you surround yourself with. Stop seeing toxic people, jealous, and the one that doesn’t believe in you! Surround yourself with smart, creative, kind and honest people. The people that love you for who you are, not just partying friends. Surround yourself with the people that believe in you and will support you along the process!
Make sure your offer matches a demand
A big mistake people do when they start a business is that they don’t do market studies before starting. They have a good idea and they just presume there is a market. This is the worst thing to do! First of all, make sure your offer is matching with a demand. You need to be sure there are enough people interested to buy your product or service. Don’t overestimate the size of the market. Before anything else, study the market, the existing competitors, products/services on the market and your customers. Make sure your offer is filling a demand.
Focus on one market
Then, once you are sure to be passionate about something, and to be ready to give everything to succeed, you need to focus on one market and only one. Don’t try to be everywhere, to sell everything and to please to everyone. This would be a big mistake. You need to be focus on your goal, your market, and your targets. Define clearly what is your market (travel industry, women clothes, vegan cosmetics?), do segmentation of the market, definite the targets, and create your unique positioning to stand of the crowd.
Find your niche
Make sure you have something new to bring on the market. There are two solutions: either you are in a new market that is empty, you are innovating with a totally new product or service. Either, as most of the time, you are on an existing market, with tons of competitors, and you have to make your place! You need to make sure to answer to a demand. Every demand needs an offer. But if the market is oversaturated, you need to make the difference and find your niche. Indeed, you need good positioning. What is your identity? The values of your brand? What makes you different from your competitors?
Be yourself, not a copy of someone else!
Yes, we all need inspiration, if you are not inspired, you will do nothing. But you need to be true to yourself and express your personality, show who you are! Don’t copy someone else or something already existing on the market. If there is already one, there won’t be two same! Think different, think about what you can bring on the market that is not already existing. Ask yourself, why people will buy your product or service? And not someone else. Only if you are offering something different and unique, you will succeed to sell your products or services.
Collaboration over competition
If you are in a saturated market, you will effectively have a tons of competitors. But instead of fighting for the same goal, you should better collaborate together! There is a place for everyone that has something new to bring. Competitors that prefer individuality will not succeed. The main reason is that they will deprive their competitor of certain market shares and clients, but they too! They will lose as much as their competitors. To fight against your competitor is sabotaging yourself.
Indeed, fighting is for people that are not sure about themselves and are not sure to have something different to bring. If you have nothing different, you won’t succeed in the long term anyway. Whether you put a spoke on someone’s wheels or not! If you have something different, and you are sure about your unique offer, then, why not collaborating with others? Work together, create together, collaborate, share your knowledge, help others! You can only grow in this way and help others to do so! We are stronger together.
Yesterday we’ve just watched a TV show where a company set up in front of its competitor. The result is that none of the two are profitable. Even if one of the two is a franchise of a successful brand and is the only one franchisee not profitable in the country.
You need to grow a pair
Ok, if you can’t stand with money problems, and you need a fixed salary to feel good, don’t become an entrepreneur. To be your own boss, you need to love the taste of the risk. This is the essence of an entrepreneur. You have to be able to go out of your comfort zone. Do you know this quote “If you want things you never had, you need to do things you never have done”? It’s one of my favorites! To become an entrepreneur, you need to risk everything and invest all your time and money in your project. I refused two contracts to have my own business. The desire to have your own company should be stronger than anything. You need to make many concessions to reach your goal.
Don’t be afraid, if it is your dream, try! Yes, you can fail, but you just need a plan in case it doesn’t work. Find how to back way on your feet. Many big entrepreneurs failed several times before succeeding! It’s not a good reason to not try! You need to enjoy the journey and not only wait to reach your goal. The whole process is an adventure. Enjoy every minute!
Find money to start
Then, where to find money to start? To buy the first gear, machines, make the first collection? It is one of the most important part to start a business. The first way is to work and save money to start your own project. Sell what you are not using anymore: bags, shoes, computer, bike, car… Ask your family and friends if they want to be a part of your project: this is the love money.
If it is not enough, you can still make a loan to the bank, but sometimes you need a strong contribution. You can also propose your project to investors or on a crowdfunding platform online.
Become an entrepreneur is a slow process
Nobody started a company and earned 1M in the first year. Most of the entrepreneur doesn’t earn a single dollar in the first years. Or they earn money but they need to reinvest everything in their company. This can be in their new collection, in new gear, machines, salaries and so on. You need to be very very very patient. This is exactly why I told you that you have to be passionate. If you are not, you won’t support all the sacrifices and you will quit. Become an entrepreneur is a very slow process.
Grow your visibility
When you’re just starting, nobody knows you, the hardest part is to start being visible by your targets. It is also a slow process! Don’t rush! The most important is to be known by persons that are truly interested by what you are offering. This is not important to be visible by everyone, only your targets.
Obviously, the best way to be known by your target is word-of-mouth which allows a big credibility, but it takes time. Talk about your business around you, your family and friends are the best persons to talk about you! Also, social media are a great way to grow your visibility online but you need to focus on your goal. Don’t just try to grow your social media accounts, stay focus on your goal and your targets. Then, if you have a website/ an online shop, focus on SEO. You can also read our post about “how to build a community on social media“.
Find customers
Also, another hard part of becoming an entrepreneur is that you work for yourself! I mean you have a variable salary than depends on you! Don’t wait for customers, go find them. Call them, go to meet them where they are, go to events, salons, send them emails. Whatever your business is, you need to go out of your comfort zone and go find customers where they are.
Determination is the key
If I have to sump up my 3 years of entrepreneurial in one word, I would say determination. To be determinate is the key to success in the long term. The entrepreneurial way is full of obstacles, only if you are determinate, and patient you can succeed! Becoming an entrepreneur and turning a passion into a business is a long process, but if you are determined and if you believe in you, you can do it!
Ready to become an entrepreneur?
To conclude, I hope this post will be helpful for you and that it will help you along the process of becoming an entrepreneur! Being your own boss is not an easy thing, but it is an amazing and beautiful experience! It is probably one of the biggest adventures of your life. So if you are dreaming to do it, then do it! It is the best way to create, express your personality, share, connect with people, and simply to realize your dreams! Don’t be afraid to start, surround yourself with the right people, believe in you and make it happen!
