Entrepreneurship, the untold truth

By Dayo Oladele-Ilori

I snatched my phone from my desk, holding it between my shoulders and my cheeks. I continued typing. “Do you have the emotional stability and mental strength to watch your bills pile up, without having a nervous breakdown or a depression bout? You need to pay your staff even when you haven’t earned a dime and businesses are not coming in?” I heard a sigh… “Babe, trust me, I wish I had a job, a career like yours, I mean a 9-5”…

Drawing strength from the position of Jason Connell’s mentor, if entrepreneurship is your curse, it is your duty to find the blessings in it; otherwise maintain the career lane and get to the very top. When I hear motivational speeches like Ignite your passion! Follow your dreams! All you need is an idea, I simply smile. Many have been misled by embellished oratory, believing that having your own business or working for your self is complete bliss, this is absolutely untrue.

Many also say you can never be rich if you continue to work for somebody or work for another business; that is also a big lie. If you are lazy, and think 9-5 is too stressful, then entrepreneurship will offer you no respite either, because it is a tougher choice to make. There are the good, the challenges, the unexpected, the consequences and rewards.

Everyone is not called to Entrepreneurship: Many foundations present entrepreneurship to the youth as the only solution to unemployment. Has anyone gone through reality checks with these young minds to know if they really have the emotional stamina for what lies ahead? Entrepreneurship requires certain psychological make-up, and a particular DNA. If you don’t have it in your blood stream, then you will be washed away. It is not an escape route from career or a substitute for unemployment. It is a conscious choice that requires some preparedness.

Entrepreneurship does not offer Freedom: One of the worst deceptions is that you can wake up when you like, have flexi-hours etc. Having flexi-unstructured hours are banes of the trade. In reality, except you are not looking for a big breakthrough, your client dictates your time. There are many times as an employee when you will be able to say, I have closed for the day. However as an entrepreneur, if a request comes in at an odd time, you may need to service it because the bills are in a high pile on your desk. You only have the opportunity to determine how much money you can make by how much time you are willing to give.

Passion and Ideas are not enough: If you have a good idea such as rendering a dry cleaning service, and you do not have a good strategy to know who your clients are and how to service them at a profit, then that idea should be left at a museum. And your passion must leave that emotional space of ‘I just love what I do even if not at a profit, though I love what I do but I will render it for a fee.’ Monetize your Idea; drive your passion to profit. First, you must develop a product/service people want, not just what you are passionate about. Secondly, get people to know about your product, now social media and the WWW has become one huge market space to explore. And lastly your route to market, sales process must be tight. However, some free social services will earn you a leeway to profit. A good understanding will help you decipher it.

Entrepreneurship is not craft or trade: Once we hear entrepreneurship, most people start to imagine craft or trade such as tailoring, catering, plumbing etc. Most multinational started with the tenacity of a single soul who was willing to sacrifice sweats to build a conglomerate.

You may earn far less than people who have a career: If your motivation for going into your own business is to get super rich, then you may have just made the wrong choice. Getting rich is not about running your own business but a deep understanding of how money multiplies. This is what gives you financial freedom.

Ranks and Ropes: Experience is not the turf of young, fresh and just-out-of-school. Many may argue that you do not need to work for anyone to start your business, but I know that is not exactly true. No matter how little it may be, work a 9-5 or work for/with an experienced entrepreneur, especially in a similar field. You will soon realize that your experience is not just about what you know alone.

Unchannelled creativity makes failure a reality: It is another way of saying gamble and see if you will win. One of the best opportunities every entrepreneur has is the ability to create and re-create. You will create some products or service that will sell, and others will just lie on your shelf waiting to be trashed. Once you realize that failure itself is part of the opportunity to learn as an entrepreneur, then you just crossed the hurdle of discouragement. When failure happens, take the learning and try again. One major characteristics of every entrepreneur is the ability to fail forward.

The Lonely and Isolated Wolf: Most entrepreneurs will find it lonely at the beginning. Charting your own course takes you away from the rest of the pack and your social life. Most people who do not understand what you do will naturally fall off your radar. People who do but are not entrepreneurs may not be able to engage with you as they used to. And then you start to value every, kobo, penny or dime that you earn. This may put a bit of a financial strain in your social life too

CEO of What? If you are a startup, why wear the badge CEO? The glint and glamour of the nomenclature dies at the table of discuss. Arrive at the shore of success before you bear a name. You may have driven away business opportunity with your loud trumpets that resounds nothing. If you are a business owner, just starting up, maybe it’s smart to use more business receptive names. This may generate a lot of debate. Nomenclature means nothing! Sell your product.

Sacrifice is Limitless: Entrepreneurship is like nurturing a baby. There is a gestation period, a time of delivery and a time of nurturing till you wean. A new startup takes time, and will take a toll on your health, encroach on family time and put you under mental stress. Are you ready?

If after discussing the challenges, unexpected and consequences, you still want to be an Entrepreneur, then welcome on board the respectable resilient breeds that sees possibilities in everything. Join me next week to understand how to get the reward of entrepreneur. I am an Entrepreneur and I am proud to be one! Be Genuine…