I am a co-founder of a handful of companies that have now started, now showing good results in their respective segments. But tell you what, startup businesses have their own sweet struggles & challenges, sometimes it can be quite difficult, and you may encounter problems that you may have not imagined.
I’m sure you’ve been told to “follow your passion,” but you’ve also seen enough of the remains of businesses started by passionate people to know that passion alone isn’t enough to create success. You might have also heard a few “motivational speakers / writers” pronounce passion to be a form of excrement, because success is built on passion + action and a lot of hard work.
[ Good To Read – If I Fail I Am One Step Closer To Succeeding ]
Some of us want to become entrepreneurs — the zing is so and so is the attraction of becoming “ your own boss ”, name, fame, million dollar valuations and hundreds of people employed under you to take orders.
“Do, or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda
To me being an entrepreneur is binary. You are either an entrepreneur or you aren’t. You either started or took ownership of something, or you didn’t. Thinking about starting something, doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. Your startup might (probably will) fail gloriously, but you are still an entrepreneur. This post is dedicated to all the wannapreneurs / aspiring entrepreneurs.
All entrepreneurs, great and obscure, were once wannapreneurs. When I first started out, thrashing around for a good idea after a successful banking & financial service career, my parents would introduce me: “This is our son, Abhishek Shah. He’s an entrepreneur. That’s a fancy way of saying he’s unemployed.” I wasn’t an actual entrepreneur. I was, in fact, a wannapreneur. But then all this is history now!
So, if you too are on the way to get listed on top “Forbes Successful Entrepreneurs” list. This post if for you!
You might have done a lot of R & D when you are starting off with your new business and have Googled a lot about the ideas on how to manage startups and be successful.
You might have also have read several blogs and articles about the hardships of the startups but I am sure you will never have searched for “Why should you not start a startup”……… Well it is obvious, only a moron will be searching this kind of stuff why you. Right???? But if you think carefully you will know how this big bold sentence makes every sense.
From my initial struggles of starting the business to the days where the struggles still continues more or less everyday there is a new learning lesson, new experiences — good or bad, and most importantly my determination — not to give up has given me a strength to continue.
My journey is not an easy one. I still get a lot of input from my peers and i really took the time to listen to those who are smarter or more successful than me. In short, we are growing to what we are today because I deliberately joined supportive organizations with like-minded people who were positive and enjoyed sharing their experiences. The shared experiences from coworkers and other entrepreneurs truly helped me create the company that I have today. For me — the hunger hasn’t quenched.
But today I am here to share with you few thoughtful reasons on why should you not start a startup because –
I want to be a Billionaire philosophy
Since when creative, passionate people started to think of becoming wealthy — chasing money was never a scene for a startup entrepreneur who is just nothing but a passionate professional working towards to make his/her dream come true. Ask any successful entrepreneur if you are not convinced with this statement.
If you are looking to build your startup like a Facebook, or Flipkart raising million bucks can be a great thought but chasing money isn’t. Let your startup earn a reputation, creating valuable products and services which inevitably make you wealthier.
Not using your brilliance
In a startup world, there will be hundreds of people coming and telling you their experiences so that you are at minimalist risk. Well, so humble of them that you are getting insights from really smart people, but you need to realize that they are not experienced in the segment where you are starting your startup. If you are not sticking to what you know and would like to go to what you hear will be just another mistake. Wavering mind and weak ears are no good.
We understand this with the fine example: Warren Buffet is scandalously known for investing in the companies he believes. He is a very good friend with Bill Gates, but he would never invest in Microsoft as he doesn’t understand tech industry. So, now you got it!!!
YAY I Am The CEO — Well You Have To Broom Your Office Too
I know the feeling that you might be getting under your skin, but if you fear to do the other side of the job than do you think that you would be able to justify your startup idea? A startup entrepreneur is everything from a CEO to marketing, to accounting to hiring and at times cleaning too. Your customers are the boss and you have to listen to everybody’s complaints but couldn’t find anyone to listen to you. This is how it starts.
Want to become next Mark Zuckerberg
I do come across people who are so enthusiastic to start a startup for the sake of becoming a million bucks celebrity. If you are looking to make an instant fame and name then there are better and easy alternatives available. It is witnessed that 95% of the startups fail in just first year, all thanks to my humble hard work that I have come this long and with the experience I am telling this fact that behind this failure is the greed and not the hard work to become BIG.
It freaks you to put in more than 40 hours a week
You always dreamt of working where you don’t have to follow a time-table, well startup entrepreneurs are supposed to do so. You are with your laptop on the go; whether you are holidaying with your family, or just chilling out at the bar with your friends. Yes, I am telling you the fact — it is no more a 9 to 5 job and doing usual work, but you are multi-tasking all in one go on your plate.
Not enough educated about your business
Well, this is another thing that I have come across where startup entrepreneurs have failed. The reason is very simple they are not sure about their business. Yes, surprisingly for me too it was a shock thing when I found several of my peers failing because of this reason. Lack of knowledge made them less passionate about their startup hence, the failure. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to be a startup entrepreneur but it will always work in your favor when you the in and out of the business you are into.
Lastly, grass is greener on the other side
When you have been employed earlier, you have always come across the news like how young kids are raising millions which attracted you to join the bandwagon and people from the startup world always get high on how corporate professionals are paid 6 figure salary income and living in a grand style.
Well, neither of these two realities is accurate. Professionals from the startup world work their butts off and doesn’t happen to make much similarly people in the corporate world don’t always get to pay high and lot of them work 70 hours a week.
All in all to say, don’t become an entrepreneur if you lack a zing in you to become one. Do what you love to do not because everyone is joining the band wagon of starting the business. Because I love challenges and have been always passionate about the business I am into. Don’t pick the career path just to become rich. Money has always been proved to be a side effect to solve the problems that people are facing today.
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As always, let me know your thoughts on the topic. I’d love to hear your ideas and views in the comments below.
[ Also Read – 7 Most Effective Ways To Think Like An Entrepreneur ]
