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Forum - Reality versus preconceived ideas
Reality versus preconceived ideas
Thu, 18/03/2010 - 17:51 — Mark Williams
As with most things in life, the reality of running a business can vary massively from what you expected.
Has the reality of running your own business been the same or entirely different from your expectations? In line with the dominant wisdom, has running your own business been tougher than you'd imagined? Maybe it's been much easier. Your thoughts please ladies and gentlemen...
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I think the reality of running your own business is that you are completely accountable for everything.
You can never have a slow day, pass the responsibility to someone else, or hope that a problem will go away, because it won't.
Each and every day you have to be ready to face challenges, find solutions and deal with them.
You also have to become incredibly good at dividing work and personal time very quickly so that your business doesn't become all consuming.
These are challenges I've faced and continually try to improve at handling, I think you have to be prepared to constantly adapt, change with the times, keep up to date with industry news, and also be confident to juggle different hats alongside the need to outsource what you can't do or are not good at.
Being open to suggestion and advice is key too!
Yup - workaholics amongst us will appreciate your views on dividing work and personal time ...right now, its Saturday afternoon, it is a beautiful sunny day, my daughter and the dog are vying for attention, and here I am, working. Not that running one’s own business ever qualifies as work....but that is another topic entirely....
I've been a freelance web developer/designer for three weeks now - so far I have had a couple of nice relaxing days, but I have also stayed up until midnight pushing towards a tight deadline. So far the good bits have been great, but the bad bits have been every bit as bad as (many) people warned me they would be!
Still, the good bits are winning at the moment! Here's hoping for many more...
Some very sound advice from Tim. The reality is always different to the pre-conceived idea. I think the biggest surprise to me was how much time is spent working ON the business as well as IN the business. I'm not fond of the admin side, but the networking and promotion side of things has been an unexpected bonus as I really enjoy it and it brings in much more business than advertising. I think what I'm saying is that it's involved a bigger time commitment than I anticipated, but in many ways it's been easier than I thought it would be and business is building slowly but steadily. I wish I'd had the opportunity to do it years ago.
My best bit of advice is to be flexible and be prepared to adapt the business according to the opportunities that come your way, and the feedback from your customers/potential customers and even competitors. That's not to say that you should go whichever the way the wind blows, but be open-minded.
I agree completely. I think being able to adapt to situations and changes around your business can only be a good thing.
My expectations of running a business were formed by business books. The theories of many of the books I have found to be sound. Planning where you wish to end up, then and routing a map to get there is a great idea.
However, an emotional picture was never drawned out for me. It is tougher than I imagined because unlike a job it becomes a living breathe part of you. When business is down you are down, when business is up you are up.
For me, the reality has always been vastly different. I have been involved in 5 start ups, and all have been different to expectation in their own ways.
There have been three consistent elements: (1) Getting customers is never easy. (2) Cash is always tight. (To me, "Well funded start up" is an oxymoron!) (3) Watching your business grow and succeed is incredibly rewarding.
So what's the overall message? Forgive yourself for living in a pre-launch dream world about how easy everything will be, then: Be flexible, be prepared to work far harder than you imagined, and look after your cash!
Tim
I think that's some really good advice Tim. Based on watching the three entrepreneurs on http://www.inafishbowl.com, and having met the entrepreneurs behind those businesses, it is evident that often what you expect does not happen and the key really is to be flexible and move with the times.
Would I be correct in saying that a common trait of entrepreneurs is passion for what they are doing? I think so, and I think that is part of what keeps people going through what is usually a really difficult time in starting up a business. In just the 3 Fishbowls, there have been complications with gaining finance, guilt over not being around so much for the children, confusion over business plans and friends falling out!
I guess it just goes to show that all businesses go through similar things, but by listening to the advice of people who have been there and by continuing to push forward and be flexible, the business can work through this difficult period.
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