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There are a lot of misconceptions about running a company. Understanding these will help us to better understand why some many of them fail, and why so many people give up on them.  

What people think running a company will involve   

There are a lot of misconceptions about running a company. Understanding these will help us to better understand why some many of them fail, and why so many people give up on them. The first misconception is that running a company is easy. There are some people out there, who believe that all it takes it figuring out how much stuff costs, selling it, and working out your profits. This idea creates the illusion that so long as you work 40 hours a week, that will be enough, and you won’t have to make any more sacrifices. Just do the bare minimum and you’ll be fine. Secondly, there are some who are under the illusion that you’ll make money quickly. As soon as you cut the ribbon, floods of cash will come rushing into your bank account. Within the first month of running, you will have no issue whatsoever paying your rent and bills. Starting to make a profit isn’t something that requires patience and heap loads of hard work, it’s just something that automatically comes with running a company. As long as you do all the mathematics before you start off, making money will take almost immediate effect.

I’m afraid that’s not the case.   

hirdly, we have this idea that in order to make money, all you need is a good idea. Once you have this great idea, you won’t need to put in any more effort because the better the idea, the less work you will have to do. Take a look at Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they both had brilliant ideas, and it’s not like they spent 14 hours a day, working 7 days a week. No, all they done was come up their ideas, and because they were such good ideas, they didn’t need to put in any extra effort. Fourthly, if you run your own business, you’ll be living the life of luxury. Just simply by being an entrepreneur, you will be able to afford a large and luxurious mansion, drive around in Rolls Royce’s, go on 10 holidays a year, and eat at 5-star restaurants. It’s not as most people who run a company must forgo personal luxuries. When Jeff Bezos started Amazon, he didn’t have to work on a desk made of an old wooden door! It’s not as if there are people up and down the country who, on a regular basis, work so hard that they end up sleeping on their office floor. And the final misconception is that all business makes it. If you run a company, you’re going to make enough money to continue to be able to do so. It’s not like there are thousands of companies who fail every single day, and it’s not as if most business end up having to shut down after the first two years!

If you want a job that you are guaranteed to be able to keep, the best way to do it is to start your own company because there is almost no chance of going bankrupt.

Benefits of running your own business  

However, that’s not to say that you should not run your own company. There are plenty of advantages too! The most common reason why people start their own companies is because they want to be their own boss. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want, and you don’t have to listen to anyone. You will still have to listen to your shareholders, the law, and your customers, if you want to make any money. However, you still get to be the one who makes the final decisions about what direction your company goes in. You will also have the potential to make people’s lives better. I know it may sound a little pedantic, but it’s the truth. Look at so many of the things that we have in our modern world, smart phones, cars, medicine, electricity. All these things are provided to us by entrepreneurs. Even if your business isn’t that big, and you only run a cafe or copywriting service, you will still have the potential to provide people with immense pleasure. The happiness that you give to your customers can help to keep you motivated.

If you’re a people person, then running a company can be a great chance for you to meet all sorts of people.   

Many customers will come from all over the world, whether that’s just around the corner, or from another country. You can hear so many amazing stories on a regular basis. You will also meet lots of incredible people when you’re looking for shareholders, people who were once in your position, and are now able to invest their money into businesses such as yours. And if you’re lucky, you might one day be in their position. I know I said that not all businesses make it, and that making money will take lots of hard work. If you are willing to make the sacrifices that you need to, if you’re willing to put in long hours, cut down on the personal luxuries in your life, and you don’t give up, then you can make it big, and I mean really big. The richest people on the planet at all entrepreneurs. Look at people such as Bill Gates or Jess Bezos.

A good idea, combined with hard work, combined with patience, might result in a lot of money in your bank account.   

And the final benefit of running a business is that it’s an exciting game. You never know what’s going to happen from one day to the next. Whilst it can be very scary, not knowing whether you’ll have an income or not next week, but it can pump you full of adrenaline. You never know what’s going to happen in the stock markets, or anything of that sort as well. When you have a new idea, you get the brilliant feeling of waiting to see whether it’s a success, your future could depend on one choice.

Why you may feel like giving up  

When you’re running your company, there are a few reasons why you might feel like giving up. The first one, and arguably the most common reasons why many business owners feel like giving up is that they’re not continuing the grow their profits. This is what many people like to refer to as ‘A Financial Brick wall’. No matter how many hours you put in, your profit margins just seem to stay the same. This often happens in the early days of you making a profit.

It can make you feel extremely frustrated and lost.   

You might also find, that you end up discovering that running a business can actually be rather boring. It’s not all private jets, and super models like you might see in a few reality TV shows. You usually will have to spend several hours every day working at a desk, and you will have to sacrifice a lot of your social life. You also need to spend a lot of time on the financial side of things, looking at all the numbers, and doing the maths to make things add up. This is not the reason why many people started, and it can become incredibly dull. There is also a high chance that the sacrifices that you need to make are too great. Your days of being able to go out partying all night and waking up at midday will have to be put in the past. Spending 4 hours a day watching Netflix and ordering takeaway pizza on a regular basis will not possible, as you will neither have enough time nor money. You will also have to come to terms with the fact that you will be spending less time with your friends, and that’s very difficult for a lot of people. A common feature among many entrepreneurs is that they often end up forgetting why they started their business. When the idea first pops into their head, it sounds very exciting. This idea is going to give you the ability to either improve people’s lives, or at the very least their day. You will be able to make many people incredibly happy. However, over time, this excitement can ware off, and you no longer remember why you’re even doing this anymore. You don’t feel like your own boss, you just feel like a slave to your habits.

And finally, it will likely hit you that you don’t have a lot of experience. This can be very daunting for a lot of people. Being hit by the realisation that you still have a lot to learn about what it takes to run a successful company. This is particularly true when you often look at the big dogs such as Warren Buffet, and you realise that they have had many more years of experience compared to you. How are you ever going to reach that level?

This lack of experience can cause many people to feel like giving up.   

How to not give up   

Here’s a few pieces of advice on how to keep going when things are getting very tough. The first thing to do is to keep your vision in mind. Why did you get started? Was it to create device that helps people to get out of bed in the morning? Was it a pub where people could come to in order to enjoy valuable time with their family? Was it a cleaning service that will give people more time to do the things that they love instead of cleaning their homes?

Whenever you started your company needs to be the reason you continue.   

Every month, you need to reflect on how far your company has come. What are some major hurdles which you have managed to overcome? What else do you need to do now? Reviewing your own company is a vital process of self-reflection that will require you to understand what your own flaws are and be able to work on them. There is no way that you will be able to understand how you can improve if you don’t fully understand where you’re going wrong.

The best way to do this is to reflect and review on a monthly basis.   

Earlier in the article, we have spoken about how you will need to make sacrifices in your personal life for the sake of your company. However, it’s also importance that you understand the importance of work/life balance. If you never spend time with your friends and family, and you never do anything other than work, it can have a negative effect on how well you can run your company. This is because your mental health will begin to struggle, putting you in completely the wrong frame of mind for running a business. As well as being able to acknowledge what you’re doing wrong, you also need to be able to acknowledge what you’re doing right. This means that during your monthly review, it’s vital for you to understand what people like about what you’re selling. And never be afraid to be proud of it! It’s not vanity, and it’s not big headed to be able to enjoy the benefits of the hard work you’ve put in. There’s no point whatsoever in only focusing on the negatives, doing so will do nothing but bring you down and make you lose motivation. And the final piece of advice that I can give you in order to not give up is to hire a coach. A business coach is somebody who you can work with, and who will give you advice on how you can continue to grow your company. With their help, you will be able to overcome any obstacles that might get in your way. When you’re feeling really stuck in the mud, and unable to go forward, your coach will be able to stand by your side and give you the advice and encouragement that you may very well require.

How to push yourself even further   

ut what if you’re not content with just having a business? Many of us will want to grow their company, and to be able to reach new customers, and make new changes to people’s lives. The thing that separates the most successful companies to all the others is that they’re not afraid to think outside of the box. Rather than just doing what everybody else is doing, you can make more money by doing things that are original and have never been done before. Thinking outside of the box is the best way to ensure that you’re more successful than your competitors.

You will also need to learn how to be a better boss. Don’t just be a boss, be a leader!   

Every month, you need to reflect on how far your company has come. What are some major hurdles which you have managed to overcome? What else do you need to do now? Reviewing your own company is a vital process of self-reflection that will require you to understand what your own flaws are and be able to work on them. There is no way that you will be able to understand how you can improve if you don’t fully understand where you’re going wrong.

Don’t ever underestimate the people who work for you, because if you do, it may very well be the downfall of your company.   

Another way for you to grow your business is to always make sure that you’re open to suggestions, no matter how strange they may seem. These suggestions could come from all sorts of people. They might be your customers, your employees, your shareholders, your mentors, or even just general members of the public. You will need to keep an open mind and get rid of this attitude that you always know best, and be open to any ideas, even those from people who you personally believe to be ‘beneath you’. And finally, nobody has ever gotten anywhere by taking the safe path. The only way to be a big success is to put yourself in a position where you could lose it all. I know that by doing so, there is also a chance of you no longer having your business, but the blunt reality is that the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet have put themselves in situations where they have had to risk in all. But if your risks pay off, then it can have a dramatic impact on both your bank account, and the impact that you will be able to have on people’s lives.

Conclusion  

There are many people out there who are under the illusion that running a company is the easiest job in the world, you get to be your own boss, come into work whenever you want to, and you get to live the life of luxury. This idea is completely false! Running a company will take heaps of self-sacrifice, hours of hard work every day, and a lot of stress. This hardship can cause many to give up. But you need to keep on pushing yourself, remember why you started in the first place, and reflect on your growth.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning,

but anyone can start today and make a new ending”

Maria Robinson

 

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