Let’s Be Honest…
Business is not as glamorous as it looks from the outside……
- Starting, Running and Sustaining a business comes with many challenges and the entrepreneur spends most time trouble shooting and having headaches over one thing or the other.
- There are days you will doubt yourself and the business, days you will not feel like waking up at all and other days you will be convinced that it is better to look for a salary than deal with these challenges from tight cash flows, difficult customers, unreliable suppliers and staff who do not understand.
Being Broke Is Normal…
Did someone ever mention to you the constant episodes of being broke that comes with being in business?
- Before your business becomes stable, being broke is normal for the first 1-3 years depending on the sector.
- Some days you do not know where your next meal, rent or staff salaries for the business will come from.
- It is during such days that you become more pressed to think of ways to get out of the dark hole you are in….
- In these days of discomfort is when you are actually the most creative in creating solutionsdue to the will to survive.
Passion Vs Money
As human beings, are faced with two options when dealing with difficult situations…FIGHT or FLEE
- This also applies to business where you keep going back to your WHY whenever doubt hits you…..”WHY did I even start this business?”
- Passion is that thing that you absolutely LOVE to do WHOLE HEARTEDLY, weather you make money from it or not! If you find your passion, you find your purpose – your big WHY in life.
- Take the case of a painter or dancer– they can wake up every day to do just that – whether they get paid or not! If they manage to monetize this passion, it becomes a business.
- Passion is what keeps you going even when the business isn’t doing well.
Money
If it is PASSION driving you, then you are more inclined to FIGHT during the hard times in your business…..
- If it is just MONEY driving you, then FLEE you will……
- This is because in true entrepreneurship, money is just a BY-PRODUCT of pursuing your PASSION.
- Money is the means for you to achieve the end..It is not the END
- There is nothing wrong with working that full time at a job you truly hate waking up to everyday……or pursuing a business that makes good money but you r heart is not in it….IF you are doing it to raise funds to pursue that which you are truly passionate about….
- Always Begin with the END in mind!- Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People