10 signs that entrepreneurship is not for you

If you still work for a boss, you will occasionally reflect that most of your earnings do not come back to you but to your boss. If you’re okay with that, that’s fine. If that is not the case, then it may make sense to earn your money as a self-employed person from now on. That can be a great choice, but not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship.

It seems like a great idea: as an entrepreneur, you get paid what you earn with your work. Good right? This way you can decide what you earn and how long you want to work every day. That sounds ideal, but in addition to the many advantages, there are also plenty of disadvantages. If you want to become an entrepreneur, it makes sense also to consider these disadvantages.

The list of ten points below immediately shows whether you have what it takes to run your own business successfully.

You need to be able to put things in perspective

Being an entrepreneur seems like a good idea, but not everyone has a realistic idea of what it entails. Owning your own business also has disadvantages. For example, it influences your lifestyle, your family life, and in many cases, it is a compromise between work and private life.

Being the CEO of your own company may sound impressive, but it does take resilience, self-awareness, and introspection. It is, therefore, often the case that many starting entrepreneurs give up after less than a year.

Owning your own business raises expectations

Entrepreneurship makes quite a lot of demands on you. For example, even after completing an assignment, you are often still working on your own business, and you have to arrange many things yourself.

Taking risks is also part of being an entrepreneur. If that’s something you don’t like, ask yourself if you want it. If you think it won’t be too bad, realize that you will have to give up your weekly night out and the chance that you can sit down for a warm bite at five o’clock is also minimal.

That is not to say that it is not worth it, but you give up a large part of your time for your business as an entrepreneur. It won’t be easy without support from the home front, so always discuss it well before starting.

The stress factor

Stress is a recognizable part of being an entrepreneur. It is more than just working hard for your success. For example, it can cause tension when you are waiting for an agreement for a large assignment. Other situations can also cause the necessary stress.

Just think of customers who do not pay on time, the equipment you want to replace when it is not convenient, or hiring specialized staff for certain assignments.

In addition, depending on the sector in which you want to work, you also have to keep your professional knowledge up to date by following various courses or workshops.

Failures and changes

Success comes with trial and error. Even a successful entrepreneur like Elon Musk has had to endure the necessary setbacks to get to where he is today. In short, the sun rises for nothing.

So prepare for the necessary setbacks and make sure you can deal with them. In other words, failure is a cornerstone of entrepreneurship.

To ask for help

As an entrepreneur, you will never start with a whole range of employees; you are mainly one-man. That can work fine, but if you need help, no colleague you can quickly consult. Of course, you have your network, but that does not mean you are inclined to seek and accept help.

Asking for help is often thought to be a sign of weakness, which is precisely what many entrepreneurs do not dare admit. Still, asking for help can be essential to growing as an entrepreneur.

No “9-to-5” mentality

You are an entrepreneur 24 hours a day. If you think you are only an entrepreneur during office hours, it may not be for you. After your working hours, you are often still busy updating your administration, reading or sending e-mails, issuing quotations, etc.

In other words, the amount of free time is minimal, and you will have to take this into account, especially as a starting entrepreneur. To make matters worse, most start-ups also sacrifice their weekends for their business. So know what you’re getting into.

Avoid risk

We said it before: doing business also involves taking risks. You often also invest equity in your company with the hope of a good return. If you’re not willing to take that risk, don’t do it.

More than half of companies fail in the first year, and taking risks is what drives many to work harder for the reward, which will ultimately be much greater than the investment. On the one hand, this provides a lot of satisfaction, but you have to handle that risk.

Making a profit is not an end in itself

Making a profit with your company is nice, but the financial reward should never be the goal in itself. By only focusing on profit, you are more likely to undermine the growth of your company.

A smart entrepreneur invests a large part of his or her profit back into the company. So make sure you have a good balance between achieving profit and other business goals.

Recognizing and solving problems

Entrepreneurship is often a matter of being alert and switching quickly, in short, solving problems that are often a recurring phenomenon. By the way, this is quite broad, because it concerns the different aspects of your company.

Attracting good customers is just one of the things you will be doing. If you are reasonably assertive and have a strategic talent, there is a good chance that you will succeed.

Lack of stability

As an entrepreneur, you have little stability in most cases. After all, your income depends on the number of assignments you manage to win.

Sometimes that is easier than other times, and you will have to be able to handle that. Is that lack of stability something you dread? Then do something else.