Are You Treating Your Entrepreneurship Like a Business or a Hobby?

A successful business involves careful planning and nobody said it would be easy. Otherwise, everybody would do it and be successful. It takes hard work and determination; and of course, it does take risk. If you are not willing to embrace the risk-taking factor of being in business, you may want to rethink being an entrepreneur or business owner because they work hand in hand.

Leaving a steady-paying career to start your own business, sacrificing a steady paycheck for the next several months or creating a ‘plan B’ just before you retire is a risk in and of itself and is often left with the question… “What if?” All kinds of factors play in part of taking a risk; risking reputation or credibility on the success of a product, service or opportunity, risking a little of your personal capital investment, risking continued monthly overhead to grow your business, and risking valuable time when you’re not even sure if it’s going to work out. All the while all this is running through your mind the whole time… whether or not you can keep and train business partners, maintain retention on your product sales, keep up with sales goals, keep marketing and prospecting efforts from failing, and – the best one yet – STAYING POSITIVE! All this can easily weigh in on how you will be productive and successful in taking your business from a hobby mentality to an entrepreneurial mindset.

From an average person’s perspective, they would rather play it safe and just try a little and if doesn’t work, it’s no great loss because they didn’t put 100% effort into it. Can you believe that most people today are afraid to give something a chance for the fear that they might actually be successful and that they may have to get uncomfortable and actually go to work? They don’t go all the way with it so they aren’t held accountable for any more work that they may have to do. It all boils down to a lazy mentality. This is where we lose so much in life.

Taking Risks Aligns Itself with and is Linked to Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship overall involves a great deal of risk, and you need to be ready to take these risks on before deciding to go into business, period; ready to accept rejection when it arises, willing to see something through until the end, never fearing the unknown, and knowing that it’s not just a gamble in your business. As an entrepreneur you are always finding ways to reduce risk as you move forward with your business. Some risks may not pay off, but an optimistic risk-taker will always look at failure as an opportunity to learn. It’s like that saying, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Keep in mind that not all risks are good ones, and sometimes when you fail, it’s good because that’s when you can learn from it and move on. It’s important to exercise self-awareness. This can help you prepare for any eventuality that may occur as you run your business. Through your failures and repetition, then and only then you see growth. Someone who is looking to build a hobby will never see growth because of the little activity to create failures or repetition is obsolete. Embrace the opportunity to overcome your apprehension. Usually we create our outcome. If we predict failure before it happens, that is what we teach ourselves will happen. “What you think about on a daily basis becomes your maximum potential.”

Don’t Go It Alone

I think one of the difficult tasks in owning your own business is prioritizing your time and setting up your hours of operation. It can be very difficult to separate your business from your home life. No matter how hard you try to compartmentalize, the pressure that comes with putting up a new venture will still affect your family.

It is important for you to sit down with your spouse, family or loved ones beforehand to understand what you’re getting into, to explain the work you will be doing, and the pressure that may come with it. Your family’s support is critical to the success of your venture. This is one of many reasons that can help put your business under that hobby mentality because the support is not there to help keep you from distractions at home. It is so easy to get complacent. Express the desires of your goals; get your family winning in it too and share the rewards with them, and – more importantly – accomplish them. Showing them inactivity and you’re not working to accomplish your goals you set forth is a sure-fire way to keep them from trusting you that this can work, leading them back to that dreaded pessimism “I told you this wouldn’t work.” By sitting down with your family, including them in your dreams, and explaining how they’re a huge part and how it will benefit everyone as a whole will get them excited to help you stay focused. Because the worst thing you can do is to get them excited over something that you didn’t see through and have them doubt that you will make it happen.

Do It for Passion Over Profit

Every entrepreneur wants to be successful, but one of the biggest mistakes people make is leading with the money. Leading with the money will surely set you up for failure. A good business usually takes a good year or two to get off the ground and running. So believing that it will only take a couple months to build a successful business is a sure way to set you up for failure. Don’t go into business just for the money. Find your passion and turn it into an income-producing venture.

Your unshakable belief and passion in what you’re doing will help you get through times when risks and problems seem overwhelming. Your passion and attitude can help get you through any obstacle that you may encounter. When you lead with your heart to help serve more people and are genuinely interested in helping people with your product, service or opportunity and concentrate on that, the money will follow. Give ‘100% effort with zero expectations’. Customers have constantly changing demands. For this reason, businesses should be in a constant state of progress and by giving 100% and zero expectations, rejections or negative situations won’t affect you.

Once you recognize this as a leader you accept the risk as a cost of opportunity and something to gain and not for its losses and then spread this attitude within your organization. Then and only then, will this help in a huge way in realizing your goals and achieving the success you need to have for an entrepreneurial mindset.

You’re in Rare, but Good Company

The bottom line is that not everyone makes it to the top. The majority of people tend to avoid risk; they play it safe. It takes an extraordinary person to take it to the next level. Because there are just a handful of people who will, they have a competitive advantage, not because they are lucky; but, because while you’re waiting to make a decision these folks have ‘jumped’. Simply put, while most individuals are playing it safe from risk-taking, it means less competition for us risk-takers. So, as long as you want to play it safe, and for as long as you are content with your hobby mentality and where your business is right now, you may never see or understand the success you can have if you take it to the level of the mindset of an entrepreneur. What do you have to lose?

You Can’t Lose

What’s the worst that can happen but that you as a risk-taker are respected at a higher degree? It puts you in a position to stand out from everyone else; which will open up new doors, new opportunities and awesome blessings that you never knew were there. You may think with that the word ‘risk’ you have a lot you can lose; but really you have more to gain by becoming a risk-taker/entrepreneur and so much more at stake if not. So the next time you evaluate your business ask yourself, “Do I own my own business or am I renting it and just treating like a hobby?” Either way, it starts and ends with you… you determine the outcome.

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