Entrepreneurial Blues: Avoid Going Through These 4 Feelings
Entrepreneurship is hard — it’s sometimes ruthless and completely unforgiving. But then you started on this journey expecting nothing less. You expected to start a business to be on your own, to do something meaningful, to have a purpose in life, and to chase a dream that’s worth pursuing.
All of that good should better the bad times entrepreneurship will often throw on you. Here are some of those common feelings and how you should combat each of those:
Sense of loneliness
When you start out on your business, it might feel that the whole world takes one side and then you take another. It’d appear that you are perhaps the only one crazy enough to pursue your idea. You’d not know if all that hard work can ever pay off. You have no clue whether you can ever recoup the time, efforts, and money that you’d invest.
If anyone told you that this is what you should expect, you’ve been lied to. You don’t need anyone’s justification about what you set out to do. Nor do you need a ratification of your idea. If you are a people person and you do feel alone at times, there are numerous communities (starting from your own locale and then on the Internet) you could be a part of.
Rejection
You pitch, and it falls flat. You try cold calling and you’d get a cold shoulder. Your amazing idea seems to have no takers. You keep doing what you do and nothing seems to work. Try hiring and it’d be hard because your company is too small to attract and sustain staff.
There’s no love in business, just in case you were wondering. Rejection for entrepreneurs is like breathing for the rest of the world. You just have to do it. In fact, for some, it becomes a part of being.
So what? Go at it.
Anger
Entrepreneurs end up managing people, resources, money, time, and self. Managing people is hard enough; try adding 4 more broad categories to it. If you had a corporate job with a large company, there would be teams doing each of those things (except self).
You don’t have that privilege. Keep your self-respect about. Do what you ought to do. But keep that temper in check.
If you can’t, find a way to channelize that energy to do something that works for your business. For instance, when you are thoroughly pissed, walk out the door and do some cold calls.
Betrayal
Clients leave. Competition belittles you. Friends don’t seem that friendly anymore. Family wouldn’t support you sometimes. Employees leave for better opportunities. Vendors stab you on the back. Partners can find their own calling.
A sense of betrayal is something every entrepreneur feels at one time or the other.
But don’t let that affect you. You shouldn’t because it does you no good. There’s no point brooding over why something happened or why someone did what they did?
Look to the future. Stay optimistic.
Each of these feels will sap you off the creative spark, the drive, your ambition, and the will power you started out with.
Let nothing come in between you and your entrepreneurial dream.
Absolutely nothing. What do you have to say? What kind of feels drain you out? Tell us all about it.