I Want To Be An Entrepreneur

I want to be an entrepreneur because I want to be my own boss, be financially free, make my own hours, and live on my terms. This is not an option and even if I fail, I have to give entrepreneurship a shot. I don’t want to look back on my life with regret, not having given building my own business a shot.

I recognize that it will require more hard work, dedication, and determination than I could even imagine, but I do not care. This is something I need more than anything else right now.

I understand that there will be hurdles along the way that will make me question just how badly I actually want to be an entrepreneur. Those hurdles will come and go, I will face them with the same resolve I am forging today.

There is no doubt that I will have moments of doubt that creep into my mind when I least expect them, and when they are least welcome, but I also recognize that those that came before me experienced these same doubts. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart or the weak-minded, it is for the resilient, for the bold.

I want to become an entrepreneur because it has been gnawing at me for far too long and I can no longer ignore the calling to build my own business. When the pain of keeping my business inside of me grows larger than the pain I would experience in building it, it is time to build my dream. If not now, when?

There are far too many of my peers stuck working at jobs they do not love, for a boss they do not like, doing things they do not enjoy, and I owe it to myself to give entrepreneurship a shot.

There are far too many problems that need to be solved for me to stand by and let them be fixed by others that make me wish I had been there first.

I do not ever want to be the one at the dinner party telling everyone that “I had the idea for Uber” or “I had the idea for Airbnb”, I would much rather be the entrepreneur that actually built the thing, and the stories I tell are those of struggle and hardship, drive and determination, success and freedom.

I don’t want to pretend to be an entrepreneur on social media, posting selfies from some faraway land with hashtags like #yolo and #selfemployed. I would rather stay humble, do the work, keep my head down focused, and when the time is right, take that trip and share those selfies with close friends and family that know how hard I worked to get there, not strangers who think it was easy.

I want to become an entrepreneur because building something from nothing is one of the greatest human experiences (click to tweet). To take an intangible idea and make it a part of a very tangible reality that I get to share with my family, friends, and teammates make entrepreneurship one of the greatest adventures we have access to.

I know that building a business requires long hours, and more hard work than most are capable of, but I also know that the reward for the long hours and hard work is much greater than that of clocking out at the end of the day to help someone else build their business.

To know that I built something that others benefit from, something that makes other’s lives easier, something that puts food on my table and the tables of my employees is something I long to experience.

Hearing feedback from my happy clients telling me how great my product or service is and how much better their lives are as a result will fill my heart in very unique ways. Making someone’s life better brings great joy, and building my business will allow me to scale those efforts and reach more people.

I completely understand that there will be clients and customers that are not thrilled with my efforts, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that I make right whatever I have wronged. Learning from these experiences to make me a wiser entrepreneur will be critical in my growth.

I know that in order to build a successful startup there will be skills I need to develop in sales, communications, marketing, management, business, and more. I know that most successful businesses are run by people with a unique ability to become experts in certain fields but also developed the skills required to build their business that may not have always been considered their strengths.

I want to be a business owner because I want to be my own boss, I want to make my own hours, even if that requires 60+ hour weeks and grinding through the weekend while my friends are out having a blast. I know that most business models require day to day care of sales, operations, business development, marketing, and so much more.

I completely understand that most aspiring entrepreneurs will fall short of their goals, lose motivation, and fail several times with one or many of their business ideas. I also recognize that in order to start a business that withstands the test of time, I will likely have to build several that don’t.

There are several steps to becoming an entrepreneur and most of them I will not even be aware of when I boldly take the first step, but that will not stop me from taking my idea and building upon it.

I know that entrepreneurs solve problems, and I have to get laser-focused on finding problems and finding better ways to solve them than anyone else is. I know that most successful entrepreneurs simply find an idea that someone else already had, and simply improve upon it.

I recognize that in order to grow a business, you may or may not need a business plan, you may or may not need business partners, you may or may not need funding, but one thing I will most certainly need is grit, and a lot of it.

I know that as an entrepreneur times will most certainly get tough, but I will build my small business support network in order to see me through the hard times and help me avoid pitfalls. I will surround myself with mentors and guides to guide me through the murky waters.

I know that the journey I am about to embark upon will be full of adversity and great rewards, and everything in between. I also understand that building my own business will be the greatest reward personally, professionally, and financially.