A few years ago I moved to the UK to start my own business, internationally.
That sounds cool, right? Imagine the new headline on your LinkedIn profile: “International Entrepreneur”.
I remember those days when colleagues and friends ask me about what I was doing. They were amazing.
They said comments like: “Oh man, you are so lucky, you can do what you want and work anywhere” or something like “I want to do that someday, I wish I have a stroke of luck to be able to do it”.
I can do what I want? I am so lucky?
What the f**k!
They had a totally distorted image of who an entrepreneur is, and more distorted about my situation.
They imagine me, by then, working in a super cool office with other entrepreneurs. Taking Fridays off just to hang out with other entrepreneurs and founders.
You know, the stereotypical entrepreneur, jeans, trainers and MacBook, working from a coffee shop.
And of course, travelling around the world visiting all kind of cool events.
The truth was completely different.
I was short of money. A lot. I just moved to a new country, paying rent (UK property market is quite pricy), expenses, accountant services and on and on…
I was starting a business from scratch, which means ZERO CLIENTS. In that situation, when you have zero clients, zero experience, and zero case studies, you don’t have too many options. And cold calling is your best bet to survive another month to pay next month rent.
So I did cold calling for over a year. Yes, that was absolutely soul broken. And because I just moved in, I didn’t know anybody yet.
But who cares, anyway I had (for a lot of months) zero budget for going out, even to eat out once a month.
Nothing. Nada.
Oh! Something else, I lived and worked in my 7 square meters room (75 Square feet). My desk was literally next to my bed.
Awesome! I was living the entrepreneurial dream!
And you know what the funniest thing was?
I never say a different thing than my reality to those people!
People have a misconception about what implies building a business on your own.
Fortunately, I survived those dark days as an entrepreneur.
But I see people projecting the wrong image about the journey of starting and growing a business. This is why I want to share with you the “behind scenes” of being an entrepreneur.
Let’s go to that.
Reason #1 why people become an entrepreneur
When I listen to somebody who wants start a business, I almost always hear the same reasons and motivations to do it:
Reason #1: “I want to be financially free.”
Reason #2: “I hate my boss.”
Reason #3: “I want to choose which clients I work with.”
Reason #4: “I want to set my own schedule.”
Ok, those are cool things, and you can achieve it all by working on your own business. BUT, is going to take you a lot of time and hard work. Trust me.
And here is a fun fact, you can achieve all those goals as an employee, as well.
Before jumping into the entrepreneur life, I suggest to ask yourself this:
Can I achieve this goal as an employee working on a different company or negotiating my actual conditions?
Please, take a minute to think in this because the answer can save you a ton of time, money and effort (and mental health).
In my experience, people want to become an entrepreneur and launch a business because they want a profound change in their lives. That’s fine. More than okay, it’s great!
But be aware of the REAL REASONS behind your decision to becoming an entrepreneur.
Quite often there are hidden reasons about why you don’t like your current situation. The answer to those reasons is not always creating a business.
Answer this question if you are ready to become an entrepreneur
I have a particular point of view to decide the real reasons for building a business.
Everything revolves around your Core Purpose. What’s your business purpose?
Your business purpose is the REAL WHY behind your business. That means, in other words, how you want to SERVE the world (think here in your market/niche), and why and in which way do you want to improve other people’s lives.
That’s a big question, take your time to find your answer.
My purpose? I help independent entrepreneurs to build an amazing business sharing their knowledge through remarkable content.
What’s yours?
When I started this business, I wasn’t an expert at all (and probably not yet), but I had a firm conviction that I love what I was I was doing.
Because of my firm conviction, I started a long and hard journey of learning and experimenting EVERYTHING about my topic, to deliver to the right people (this is YOU) a valuable outcome.
My core purpose was crystal clear then and remain the same today.
I’ve been through a painful process of hard work, ups and downs, frustration and, of course, some success.
But because I had clear my purpose, the real reason why I was building my business, I kept on the track when most people would immediately quit.
If you create that solid foundation, then, eventually, you can achieve all those complimentary “perks” of being an entrepreneur like:
- Work on pyjamas from anywhere in the world
- Don’t work Fridays
- Only work with your ideal clients
- And on and on…
But all those things will come later in the process.
Final action point for you: steps to becoming an entrepreneur
Let’s finish this blog post with something useful.
I want you to take some action. Don’t worry it won’t take long.
Imagine that you won the lottery. Let’s your imagination run free for a moment, just imagine that you have enough money for the rest of your life.
Of course, you’ll do the typical actions like buying all that you want, cars, houses, travelling, buying your parents fantastic holidays, helping your friends, smart investments… Whatever you want to do with that money. Ok?
But after that, when you have ALL your life goals. Let’s say you have the spiritual need to serve the world somehow.
Then, put yourself in that situation, you decide to create a Non-Profit Organization to help others. I want you to think in the single one most important way you will improve other people’s lives with your experience.
Think about it. It’s not about money, just about helping others with your experience. That last part is critical, your experience. Include here your knowledge, your unique skills, YOU.
Save some time to think about this, take some notes, and you will find great reasons why to start your own business.
Do you want to find a profitable business idea?
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