Your answers to my question… what is the worst and best thing about starting a business?

Thank you to everyone who responded on Facebook. If you didn’t get a chance to see the posts, you may have other thoughts. Please share (although when you see this I will be out of town on an adventure and will see them when I return.

Below is a summary of responses on Facebook.

What is Best About Being an Entrepreneur?

• Excitement/Freedom
  • Sleepless nights from excitement
  • Worth it in the end
  • Final Decision maker – freedom to decide
  • No bureaucracy
  • Flexibility/choice
  • Freedom to decide when you want to work (which 100 hours a week!)
  • We can be there for our kids/grandkids
• The work
• Unlimited opportunities
  • Creative freedom
  • A business in an act of creativity
  • Opportunity to create
• The People
  • Collaborations and Cool people,
  • Unexpected supporters
  • Mentorship (Mentor magic)
  • We speak the same language
• Being the best employee!, Loving your boss (lol)

What is the Worst About Being an Entrepreneur?

• The buck stops here
  • No-one else can do it for you (or sometimes even help)
  • Huge responsibility
• The work
  • The amount of work
  • Financial and other Paperwork
• The personal side/confidence: 
  • People who don’t support you (they may be family!)
• Financial stuff:
  • The days you don’t get paid (unpaid sick days)
  • Financial Valley of Death
  • Cash Flow
  • Starting without financial resources
  • Financing
  • Having the funds
  • Taxes
• The Unknown/learning
  • Jumping into the unknown/ Uncertainty
  • The learning curve
• Stamina
  • Having enough energy
  • Exhaustion (avoid illness)
  • Sleepless nights from worry
• Our choices
  • Not asking for help sooner
  • It can take over your life without boundaries
  • We limit our income potential
  • The little voice that tells us to play it safe

What helps?

• • Staying fit
  • Beer (or for me, wine)
  • Build up cash reserves before you start
  • Tell the little voice (that urges you to play it safe) to take a back seat and watch
  • Also good advice for skeptical friends and family
  • Don’t tell them – Show your family and friends

• Author
• Recent Posts

Patricia Dent

Business Mentor at Grow Vantage

Patricia is a business mentor who works with entrepreneurs to design, grow and improve their businesses.She is the business mentor who owns Grow Vantage and Inciteful Solutions, and is a sponsor of The Creative Space, a co-working entrepreneurial incubator in Barrie, Ontario, the community which she adopted in 2009.

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