Today I came to have a conversation with my aspiring entrepreneurs. A conversation with those people who have been thinking about taking the leap to go all in on their passions or side hustle. I’ve been a full time entrepreneur now for a little over 6 months now and I have honestly learned a lot about business and myself in the process. Media paints entrepreneurship as this thing where everything is roses and daisies, but I’m here to tell you it’s nothing like what you see on tv. It’s actually a totally different beast, especially when things aren’t going as planned. In my experience, entrepreneurship is a Jungle. A jungle that has laws. Laws that people need to abide by in order to keep their dream alive. I want to share the 5 laws of the jungle that I have discovered in my time as an entrepreneur.
Know Your Why: The Key to Sustaining Entrepreneurial Motivation
The first law is to “know your why.” As an entrepreneur, It is very important that you know why you are doing it before you even start. I’m sure we’ve all heard about the honeymoon phase. When you start working for yourself, there will be a lot of initial excitement, but that soon goes away when things aren’t as fun any more and you didn’t make as much as you hoped that month. Your why is what keeps you going when motivation goes away. For me personally, I have a vision of being able to impact generations because of what I did today. So when I feel like giving up, I remember that I am not doing this for me, there are people that are depending on me.
Embrace Dislike: The Entrepreneur's Path to Authenticity and Success
The next law is to “have the courage to be disliked”. As an entrepreneur, you operate differently than the typical employee. As an entrepreneur, you wear a lot of hats and take on many different tasks. I say that to say that because with these extra roles, you’ll have to try a lot of different things that you may not be good at and do things in your business that may make you look cringe to others. You have to decide whether you want to be accepted by other people or be getting paid.
Build Intentional Connections: The Entrepreneur's Key to Networking Success
The third law is “build intentional connections”. This is one of the most important laws because as the saying goes, “your network is your net worth” stands true as an entrepreneur. Maturing is understanding that you can’t work with everyone and that the people you are around will begin to change as you grow. I’ve seen that money doesn’t change you, but it changes who you are around, which can have a negative or positive impact on you.
Focus on Inputs: The Entrepreneur's Path to Sustainable Success
The fourth law is to “focus on the inputs”. As an entrepreneur, you are compensated differently than everyone else that is working a traditional job. Sometimes there are some months where you don’t make any money. When you get paid as an entrepreneur, you are never paid for what you did that day. You are often paid from something that you did a while ago that developed into you getting paid. In entrepreneurship, you are compensated based upon your productivity and doing what works. It will take time for you to figure out what creates the best results when you are just starting out, but once you do, focus the majority of your time on the inputs that generate the highest result and the outputs will come. It’s just a matter of time.
Watch Your Inner Narrative: Overcoming Self-Doubt as a Solopreneur
The last and final law is to “watch the stories you tell yourself”. As a solopreneur, you spend a lot of time by yourself. That can be good or bad. What is bad about it is that sometimes we can let our inner voice start winning the battle. When things are hard, because things will get hard, you may start telling yourself “I want to quit” or “why am I even doing this?” “Why won’t no one support me?” Win the battle of your mind. Know that you can do it.
Those are my 5 laws for surviving the jungle of entrepreneurship. I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect when you decide to take the leap. Know that you can win!