About one year ago I made the leap into full time entrepreneurship. To some of my non-entrepreneur friends and family this meant I got to sit around all day drinking scotch, smoking cigars and making business deals. To others who were familiar with entrepreneurship this meant stocking up on ramen noodles and coffee.
Entrepreneurship is rife with difficulty, and not just what we like to talk about - such as the difficulty in obtaining investment, finding great team members, and achieving product market fit. I'm talking about things that are really hard to talk about.
1. Sometimes You Don't Get Paid
There's probably going to be times when you're going to miss that car payment, or go way past that student loan grace period. Obviously you should do your best to have debt paid off and money in savings prior to going full time into entrepreneurship, but that's easier said than done.
So what should you do? Do your best not to exceed 30 days past due - that's when your credit report starts getting affected, and no one wants that.
2. Kids May Have to Wait
If you have a family by the time you go into entrepreneurship you'll probably be working 80 hour weeks, even if you don't have to. Why? Because you feel at the time that it's necessary to your success. Just be sure you're setting aside time every day to spend with your kids. Businesses come and go, but family lasts forever.
3. Date Nights Don't Happen
As much as you may want to, money and time is tight when you first start your venture. The last thing on your mind at the end of a long week will be spending time with your significant other. Your mind will be racing with ideas to get new sales or a marketing strategy you just thought of, and the effects on your partnership can be difficult.
4. You'll Probably Gain Weight
Or lose it. Either way, diet and exercise aren't necessarily high on the priority list, even if they should be. When all hours are spent thinking about budgets, funding, payroll, project management, development and more it's hard to get motivated to go to the gym or eat right.
5. Some Days, You'll Crash
Working 10 hour days can get old fast. Your body can only do so much, but we entrepreneurs love to test that boundary. Crashing mentally and physically will happen, sometimes at the same time. When that happens be sure to check out completely and recharge: no phone, no computer, nothing. Take a day or two for personal time and veg out on Netflix or go to the beach.
6. One Day, You'll Want to Quit
This kind of goes with number 5. Personally, this happened around month four, when we just lost a fairly large bid we really wanted. I made the mistake of thinking we had it in the bag, but obviously that wasn't the case.
I was done, demoralized and wanted to go back to the safe six figure job I had before I went full time into entrepreneurship. It would have been so easy... but no! I had to get out of that mindset. Thinking about a safety net will only harm your ability to go far in your entrepreneurial ventures.
7. Other Days You'll Feel Invincible
There will also be extreme highs on your entrepreneurial journey - you'll feel you can conquer the world! You'll think your company or idea is the best thing since sliced bread, ready to take on millions of users without a hiccup and take on the Apples and Googles of the world. Hold on to these moments, you'll need them.
8. Money Runs Our - Quickly!
Don't bet on that minuscule savings account lasting you as long as you think. Money goes a lot faster when little to no income is coming in, especially if you have people depending on you, like a spouse or children.
Do whatever you have to do to keep that money in your account, even if it means sacrificing some things like your daily Starbucks run, getting brand name cereal or buying the newest model of iPhone. Those are things you don't need - and trust me, when you're able to stretch that savings twice as far because of those sacrifices, you'll be happier for it.
9. Read 'The One Thing' - And Do It
Keeping focus is very difficult when starting out. Make sure you're locked in, with set schedules, a set focus and a workspace where you can free your mind (and computer) from distractions.
Something that helped me and several of my peers was reeding The One Thing by Gary Keller. The book details a mode of thinking that entrepreneurs and professionals should adopt to stay hyper focused on a singular, ultimate goal.
When starting full time entrepreneurship, it can be distracting having so much free time, especially given the endless opportunities for marketing, public relations, community organizations and startup programs around you. The philosophy outlined in the book will help you stay focused on only the things that will move you closer to your goal on a daily basis.
10. Growth Takes Time
There's nothing more frustrating than month after month of slow sales growth. Every entrepreneur, especially those that go full time into entrepreneurship, believe that the growth curve will shoot up as their time is fully dedicated to their venture.
Not the case. Very few entrepreneurs see overnight success, and even those that do probably worked for months, and most likely years, trying to get their startup into the headlines. Growth is a long, hard slog - one that's not for the faint of heart. If you think that quitting your job and becoming a full time entrepreneur will suddenly solve the problems you're having with marketing, sales, growth and more - you're mistaken. Of course it helps, but try to remember that behind every success story there's years of hard work.
If you're just getting started on your journey into full time entrepreneurship - I commend you. It can be a scary and lonely time. Be brave, push through it and you'll come out on the other side. Worst case scenario: you'll fail, but be much more knowledgeable about several aspects of the business world - something incredibly valuable to organizations around the world. Best case scenario you'll succeed - and whatever your definition of success is, wouldn't that be worth the risk?