Five reasons NOT to be an Entrepreneur

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Christopher Columbus

You should avoid this pain if you can. Here are five reasons why you shouldn’t be become an entrepreneur.

1. Inconsistent income

In my experience, this is the one thing that many fledgling entrepreneurs really struggle to adapt to. With a regular job, you know exactly how much you have coming in and can budget accordingly. When starting a business you don’t have this luxury and each month can fluctuate - and with that so does your attitude, belief and lifestyle. 

This inconsistency can cause extreme motivation as you know that it’s all or nothing, but adjusting to this way of life is difficult.

Successful budgeting tends to depend on two things: careful planning and a steady income.

The first, anyone can do. The second isn’t so simple.

If you’re self-employed, you might be asking yourself: “But I don’t have a regular paycheck coming in. Can I even set up a budget? 

Should I bother?”

You can. And, yes, you should.

A budget is simply a way of figuring out how much money you need to go about your daily life, and arranging things so that you don’t exceed that number. 

No matter your situation, budgeting is a critical part of making sure your finances are sustainable.

Solution: This can be combated by ensuring you have some savings buried away in case you don’t earn a penny. 

My advice? Work out your bare minimum living costs and have at least six months of these costs saved up before you start up.

2. Bad work / reward ratio 

When working for somebody else, you get praised or rewarded based on your outputs and effort. When working for yourself, there’s nobody around watching and waiting to give you a bonus or a pat on the back - this can lead to a lack of motivation and interest. 

Becoming somebody who doesn’t require consistent outside praise is crucial here as the life of an entrepreneur means that you will always be working for medium to long term rewards, rather than short term gratification.

Say Goodbye to Free Time Starting a business will take huge amounts of time.

It will be great to take off to go see a friend at 3:00 in the afternoon because you are your own boss, but you pay for it later by working until midnight. 

Owning a business becomes your lifestyle. 

Your work time and personal time meld into one big gnarled lifestyle. There is no more vacation time, no sick time and no headed home early. 

You are the only one that will get the job done.

Solution: This can be overcome by setting some key goals and rewarding yourself with simple and inexpensive things such as going to the cinema, seeing friends, taking an hour out to have some 'me' time or anything else that is taken for granted for when working for others.

3. The odds are stacked against you 

We all know the stats, 50 per cent of all start-ups fail within five years. Getting comfortable with the stark reality that your business may fail is paramount to life as an entrepreneur. 

The odds are stacked against you from the very moment that you decide this life is for you, and so you need to carefully consider how failure may impact you, but also those around you and potentially those who depend on you and your income.

Solution: The best entrepreneurs embrace failure and use it as motivation. If they do fail, they keep their can-do-spirit and with each failure take experience and learning to then draw on the next time around.

4. Dealing with negativity isn’t for everybody

Nobody likes to hear criticism about themselves or something that they have been working on, but in a start-up you need to take everything on the chin, as it will help make you and your business better. 

This negativity can often come from people closest to you, your partner, friends or maybe family. Ignoring this and powering forward without their support can be hard, but it often needs to be done and is one of the biggest causes of entrepreneurs giving up or quitting too soon as they can’t handle the personal stresses it creates.

Solution: The successful entrepreneurs take all comments on board and evaluate their validity. Getting a mentor to help deal with the mental and emotional side of dealing with criticism of your business can also be crucial.

5. You’re not the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg

Yes, having a role model, or reading about very successful entrepreneurs and founders can be inspiring. But if you’re starting life as an entrepreneur with the plan of becoming the next Jobs or Zuckerberg then you’re already behind. 

Putting other entrepreneurs on a pedestal can be very damaging as you will constantly compare yourself, and your business journey to those people without actually knowing the true in and out story, as you have only read the glamour stories and not the horrible ones where entrepreneurs have to file for bankruptcy or suffer a marriage breakdown.

Solution: Don’t focus on becoming the next rockstar entrepreneur, focus on becoming the best version of you as possible - that will lead to your success. 

Spend time reading the failure and dark stories of entrepreneurs as well as reading the glamourous success stories.