Entrepreneurial grit is the ability to make dreams come true. The dream may be different for each person, but being an entrepreneur is the ability to realize this dream and make it a reality. Your determination, resilience, and courage will propel you to pursue this dream, even when others tell you it's impossible.
The journey of an entrepreneur is not an easy one. It’s full of challenges, heartache, and hardship. But it's also rewarding, satisfying, and fulfilling.
Since I started my own startup 12 years ago, I have lost a lot of money, almost gone out of business, and even thought about going out of business, especially after my first three projects finished in a week, but I still I continued. When trouble hit, I went the extra mile. I challenged myself to go beyond my limits. Entrepreneurship always won out.
But what really got me thinking was how could I make that happen? So were most of the entrepreneurs around me. The number one problem in entrepreneurship is lack of time, then lack of money, then optimism of the entrepreneur, and thirdly, entrepreneurs are often very optimistic people, and I think that is the problem. Lack of time and money may be a problem, but we hope that one day a miracle will happen and everything will change. We believe that the only problem with entrepreneurship is lack of money.
So let's take out loans, put money into a system that isn't working, and burn that money. Entrepreneurs then find themselves in a situation called “stress,'' which is practically insanity.
If you aren't feeling stressed in today's world of entrepreneurship, something is wrong. You have no sincerity and no effort. When you're under stress, you can wear it like a badge of honor, like it's your greatest accomplishment in life. When people are not stressed, you see them as scammers and corrupt people.
In such a situation, if you don't have the time, money, debt and stress, you don't deserve to own a business. They can be described as job owners.
It is the employer who is stuck alone. Self-employment, as the name suggests, is your own job. You may be asked what the problem is.
It's almost like you're doing it to pay yourself, and if you're self-employed you can't pay yourself consistently. Your own journey may seem superhero-like as you pursue your passion, but the world isn't good enough to back you up.
Many entrepreneurs are used to this and think there is light at the end of the tunnel. They never know what will happen until they see the end of the tunnel.
When you're self-employed, you may feel like you don't have time, you don't have money, and your business isn't growing, but you're still employed. Many entrepreneurs experience this, but it is very deceptive.
In situations like this, you need to re-educate yourself to dig deeper into the psychology of starting a business and what methods to use to build a successful business. Investing in retraining may make people think you're crazy.
A college education won't prepare you to become an entrepreneur, but learning from successful businessmen can change your life.
During my 10-month re-education journey, I realized that I was making the classic mistakes that most self-employed people make.
My first mistake was being too optimistic. Despite my optimistic outlook, I believe it is actually toxic. It gives you hope that someday, somehow, miraculously, your life will work out and change. If you don't make a choice, your life won't change.
In difficult times, many people avoid making decisions, go with the flow, and may even consult a fortune teller about what the future holds. To achieve my goal, I wanted to understand how the stones we wear can brighten our future and help us control our destiny. Most people make the first mistake of doing small things and accepting things as they are.
After talking with business leaders, I realized that business has seven will-like functions. Whether you are a sole trader or a small business in a large corporation, these areas include:
- marketing
- sale
- operation
- Research and Development
- Human Resources Department
- account
- management
These functions that you have are like the spokes of a wheel, and if you don't perform these activities consistently, it means the wheel will break. I keep losing my balance.
Why do entrepreneurs often struggle to balance all seven functions?
The success of small businesses depends on entrepreneurs. Owners are like superheroes. They keep things moving at firefighting speed. Firefighting is a survival game, so killing is part of its nature.
In other words, these entrepreneurs continue to focus on the problems that will destroy their business, and that's why they aren't building a business. They actually do business on a month-to-month survival model. Nothing works consistently because they believe that everything depends on them. Marketing may bring you some leads, and sales may bring you some customers. After that, it takes time to run the business.
How does marketing and sales work at work?
In short, nothing. In business, results don't come about when things happen in order. Therefore, the results in terms of efficiency for small business entrepreneurs are very low.
What drives small business entrepreneurs to do this?
They believe they are the best on the team. The worst thing you can do for your business is to be number one on your team. Most entrepreneurs take pride in being the best. They claim, “I'm the best marketer and the best product person.”
In the end everything is done by them. Even if you're the best, you can't do it all at once. Monthly survival games naturally focus on crying babies. Mistakes like this are the bane of every business. Businesses grow best when entrepreneurs are not involved. The idea of being fully involved in the business is very different.
Another mistake entrepreneurs make is not considering hiring as a cost. But if you're hiring at a cost, why not hire someone who costs more? Because you're in the business and you're paying into this game to survive. Many entrepreneurs even look for “cheap talent.”
Cheap human resources is an oxymoron. When you hire cheap people, you subconsciously convince yourself that they cannot deliver the results you expect. Therefore, you will still be paid while doing your own work.
The fourth mistake is focusing solely on customers instead of building teams, systems, and strategies. As the saying goes, the client is king. And you will find out what a big lie that is. Just sit by a customer in a transaction negotiation and you'll see that they don't have any kingly qualities. For example, a client suddenly wants to meet an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur postpones all previously scheduled team meetings and goes to a meeting with a customer. That's because they are very customer-focused. They are losing opportunities to build their business because they are customer-centric. They fall into the trap of being self-employed.
You might say your money comes from customers. That's not true. Because your wealth comes from your team.
Successful entrepreneurs focus more on the inside than the outside. He continues to focus on building teams, building strategies, and building systems rather than standing behind the customer. If he does not do so, he is technically employed by the client without giving him a fixed income. More broadly, he is a free advisor to his clients. Because his customers treat him like his Google, they only want information, not hand over a check and create transmissions in his life.
Instead of chasing customers personally, focus on building teams, building systems, and building strategies.
Why did you choose to start your own business?
I don't think I chose it because I could pay my own salary or pay my credit card bill on time. That's not the vision you started with. You must have started your entrepreneurial venture with a big vision to make a difference, add value to a large market, create jobs, and create wealth for yourself, your team members, and your customers. If you deviate from this vision and fall into a monthly trap, it means something is wrong.
You're not focused on building teams, systems, and strategies to ensure your business can function without you. You may make some mistakes in the beginning and even lose a lot, but if you believe in yourself and keep working hard, even if you can't do it perfectly, someday your hard work will bring results and it will be scalable. will create a new company. What you need to be sure of is that you have to step out of your comfort zone and true entrepreneurs keep doing it until they achieve it.
