senceworld.com Blog

The Life of an Entrepreneur

March 10th, 2009

Most times I wonder what I am doing running my own business and I ask my poor long suffering husband for the hundredth time ‘is it too late to find a job?’ The life of an entrepreneur is one of constant responsibility that never goes away. It starts with the end of the month when you have bills to pay and then you move on to the beginning of a new month when you have to make sure that the plans you have put into place are actually implemented at least enough to make sure that you have money to pay the bills which will surely come up again at the end of another month.

You worry about the people you have employed and their ability to deliver and you wonder if the equipments you have bought will keep up their end of the bargain……. and it is at that point when the clock is about to strike 2 in the a.m that you punch the pillow for the umpteenth time and ask yourself once again is it really worth it?

So is it really worth it? I think yes because it is your business and you need not attend one more board meeting where the chairman of the board is looking at you and trying to understand why his bank account has not swelled to bursting point after all the money he put in.

I also think yes when I know I can pop out to check up on my ailing daughter without any one scowling at me and staring pointedly at their watch.

I know for certain when a smiling client says ‘thank you very much, I couldn’t have done it without you’. That’s when the sleepless night and the unpaid bills stop being liabilities and become one more obstacle to conquer.

So what am I saying? I am saying that owning your own business gives you freedom and the opportunity to be your own boss, it also comes with some hefty responsibilities the least of which is understanding that people’s livelihood depends on you. To succeed you must first go into it for the right reasons and not because you want to be your own boss and/or make tons of money. You should go into it because you have something to offer people that they will be willing to pay you for. Without that I tell you, hunger and unpaid bills will come knocking. You had better understand that you will have to work harder than you have ever done in your life especially if you are a woman like me, trying to juggle work and a budding new family.

The difference between a successful businessman or woman and a failure is the determination to succeed and the realisation that it will get rougher and harder before it gets better. You must also be prepared, they say that luck favours the prepared mind (I think that’s what they say, anyway). You really don’t want the kind of organisation where if you are not there nothing works, certainly not if you plan to go on vacation twice a year like me…. when the money comes. Believe in what you do, which is why you must be sure that you have something to offer that people need.

So how do you build a solid organisation that your children will be happy to inherit or sell for a fortune as the case may be? Have a vision, focus on the goal, put in place structures, have systems that work, be flexible enough to know when to go back to the drawing board when the plan is not working. Need any help? Get in touch (info@senceworld.com) and we will help you achieve your goals. We have been there and are still on our path to a glorious future, so we understand what you are going through.

In the meantime, don’t give up there is light at the end of the tunnel and really… you are not alone.

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