The Signs That Show You’re Ready to Start Life as an Entrepreneur

Whether it’s the allure of working for yourself or because you’re tired of not making progress in your regular career, the life of an entrepreneur is an enticing one for people all over the world–and for good reason. Many people believe that being an entrepreneur is the only career choice that should be considered once you’ve had a taste of regular working life. This is because you have more freedom, you make or break your own success and you don’t need to rely on your boss or a manager to pay your salary.

While some people can’t stomach the idea of uncertainty, others embrace it knowing that their success is in their own hands. Thanks to insightful and informative articles such as this one from HuffingtonPost.com, more people are open to the idea of defining their own success. If you’re curious about how you can start life as an entrepreneur, then you may want to consider the signs that we’re going to show in this article.

Being an entrepreneur is all about expressing yourself through your business and your work. (Photo: Pexels)

1. You’ve found something to be passionate about

Passion doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve found a new hobby, industry or product that you want to invest your time and your life into. Passion can also mean that you’ve decided on a life goal and want to pursue it. Articles like this one at MindTools.com are perfect for helping you understand how to set goals, but the idea is that as long as you have something to motivate you and focus on, it’s possible to achieve anything.

Your passion doesn’t need to be a hobby or interest. Your passion could also be the fact you want to provide for your children, it could be about giving your children a business to look after in the future, or it could be about fulfilling your own desires. Whatever it is, your passion is going to make a huge difference in your success and it’s important that you keep it in mind when you want to become an entrepreneur.

2. You have contacts in the industry

Business contacts are important if you want to make it big in your industry. Even if it’s about hiring outsourced work and getting to know the company or connecting with others on social media and befriending influencers, getting to know people is one of the best ways to actively make a difference in your career as an entrepreneur. Lots of people will scoff at the idea of heading to social media just to make business friends, but people that are already successful will tell you that it’s far better to have friends in the industry than to know nobody.

You can get started with this by heading onto social media and speaking with influencers. Try and start in an industry that you have friends and family in, or network during your first few trips to a business event or public trade show.

Be prepared for many sleepless nights and long days away from your family and loved ones. (Photo: Pexels)

3. You’re mentally prepared for failure

One of the biggest downsides to starting a business is your chance of failure. It should come as no surprise that many businesses fail during the first few months of starting up, and this is usually because their ideas haven’t been fleshed out properly, they didn’t have enough capital or they just didn’t have the right strategy.

However, all of these potential problems can be fixed with one cure: experience. If you’re an experienced business owner then it’s possible to overcome a huge number of flaws and problems in your company before they even become an issue. For instance, if you’ve had a company before that didn’t make it very far because you didn’t have enough capital, then you’ll remember this the next time you start a business. With this in mind, the next time you grow your business you’ll raise more capital first and consider all of your expenses instead of taking it too lightly.

The idea here is that failure is not a sign of weakness–it’s inexperience. No matter how many books you read or how many workshops and talks you attend, you’re going to need to fail at least a few times to truly grasp the gravity of working as an entrepreneur for the rest of your life. Sometimes the only thing you pay is a bit of capital, but other times, your failures will cost you the entire business. As long as you’re prepared to fail, you can stomach this and learn from all of your mistakes in order to have a bigger and stronger business in the future.

4. You’ve put together a business plan

You’d be surprised at the number of people who go into business without actually having a plan of action to back them up. These are the types of people that head into business and fail within the first few weeks, give up and then never return to the industry due to the burns they suffered the first time around. It’s important to have a business plan no matter how small or rough it is. You may want to consider advisors such as EquifyLLC.com that will help you create a better business plan. Whether it’s the equipment you need to purchase, the type of financial support you need or even social media assistance, getting assistance is perfectly acceptable and expected.

To start, take a look at articles such as this one from BPlans.com to learn how you can write a business plan. It’s usually a fairly long document, but unless you plan to show it to investors you can cut down a lot of the formality to make it easier to write. You’ll be using your business plan as a guide for running your company. You’ll refer to it when you’re about to grow your business and you will use it to make difficult decisions. It’s going to be your best friend during your time as an entrepreneur, so don’t forget to constantly amend it and make positive changes that will help your company. Without a business plan, your company is doomed to fail eventually.

Entrepreneurs will try and get some work in whenever they can and no matter where they are. (Photo: Pexels)

5. You’re financially prepared to start a company

Not everyone has the financial status needed to start a company. Some people will use whatever savings they can muster up and others will try to approach investors about potential business plans and ideas. The problem with most of these investor plans is that they won’t accept your idea unless you have a business plan and a really good pitch. This useful post from AmericanExpress.com reveals exactly what goes into creating the perfect pitch and it’s a fantastic place to start if you want to approach investors.
However, if you’re looking for other ways to fund your business venture then you may want to consider some alternate sources. One potential way to grow your business is to use crowdfunding. By using online websites, you can type up your pitch, let the internet know and have them judge if your idea is worth investing in or not. This can net you a considerable amount of money to help you start a company, but if you disappoint your early supporters then you’re going to have a negative reputation on your hands and you may never run a business again.

However, most people will decide that they just want to use their own savings instead of taking out a loan or using money from their audience. It’s arguably the most honest way to start a company but, of course, can’t work for everyone. If you go this route and use your own savings to start a business, then make sure you don’t invest too much money and remember that you need to pay for your own personal expenses as well.

6. You’re worried about success

Yes, everyone wants to be successful and everyone wants to make money. However, it’s good to remember that with success comes other factors that you might find disruptive or frustrating to deal with.

Success can make it difficult for you to cope with everyday life. Having your name recognized can sometimes be fun and exciting, but more often than not it’s going to be a completely different experience to what you’re used to and you might feel like the exposure is getting out of hand. With more visibility comes more expectation. If you’re well-known in the industry for something then it can put a huge amount of pressure on you.

If you’re not worried about success then you’re taking it too lightly. While everyone does want to be successful, it’s a good idea to understand what being successful means and what you may need to deal with should you be able to start and continue running a successful company.

Final words

Hopefully, these tips have given you a good idea of what to look for when you’re considering the life of an entrepreneur. Keep in mind that life as a lone business person isn’t for everyone and you might find it more comforting to work for an employer. However, for adventurous types, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of starting your own company.