Is Entrepreneurship Right For You?
Generation-Y is the generation of freethinkers and free spirits. We grew up on the notion of ‘thinking outside the box.’ We have the sort of ‘do it yourself’ mentality in regards to our careers and futures that no other generation before was able to touch on.
While our forefathers were big on finding a corporate ladder to latch onto and crawl up, we prefer to build our own ladders and start right on top of them. We are the generation that puts entrepreneurship on a pedestal and then vows that it can be reached by each and every one of us — if we so wished to do so.
And that’s the truth: we are all capable of taking our future into our own hands and becoming our own bosses, running our own businesses. But there is one thing that you must remember — entrepreneurship is not for everyone.
The most important thing you can do in your life is to be honest with yourself. It is one thing to take the time to find yourself, figure out what your passions are and what your motivators are; it is another entirely to be honest with yourself once you arrive at a conclusion that you aren’t entirely pleased with. We are a nation of thinkers and dreamers.
We have the ability to imagine how a situation will play out before it is given the chance to unfold. We are able to place ourselves in our future imaginary shoes and take a walk before we decide to invest in them. The only issue is that our wildest imaginations are just that — usually wildly inaccurate.
How many times have you thought you knew what you were getting yourself into only to conclude that once you entered the race, you were way out of your element? It happens to all of us. When deciding on career paths, it is important to pick up on these instances and find the courage to accept their truth.
If you find that whatever field you decided to venture into just isn’t your piece of pie, then find the balls to admit that to yourself — you will be much happier in the long run, even if it means that you have to give up on a longtime dream. The preferred way of going about this process of trial-and-error is by means of gathering as much information you can on any given dream prior to delving into it headfirst.
So you want to be an entrepreneur, huh? Are you sure? Let me present to you a couple of realities that may be in opposition to your beliefs — starting off with the actual hours of labor. Many people love the idea of owning their own business and being their own boss.
One of the greatest motivators is being able to set your own schedule. When you are the boss, you decide when you wish to work and when you'd rather take some time off. From all the reading that I have done, no one has yet to put it better than @RyanBlair in his book, “Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain”:
“Entrepreneurship is great because you can set your own hours — any seventeen hours of the day, seven days a week.”
It’s funny, but it isn’t far from reality. If you want to start a successful start-up, then you must become your business. You may not necessarily need to be in the office for 17 hours a day — in fact, chances are that you won’t be able to afford an office for quite some time. But, you will be working, constantly.
Owning your own business requires you to make it your life — not part of your life -- but your life. You must breathe it, drink it, eat it, dream it and roll it up and smoke it. Your life must revolve around it; you must become it.
I can just imagine you sitting there, getting all motivated and telling yourself that you will conquer the world! Good; that’s the exact mentality that you need to have, but make sure that you know exactly what you will be getting yourself into.
You may feel motivated and hungry now, but as of now you have yet to start. What most people fail to realize is how tough it is to keep going once the going gets tough. It’s easy to say that you will weather the storm now, but when the storm actually hits, holding on for your life may be your only thought.
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