So you want to be an entrepreneur? As an up-and-coming
entrepreneur myself, I want to share a few thoughts with you.
You’ve got to really, really love what it is you’re trying
to do for business. Maintaining good ties with clients, keeping a steady
income, making enough to actually support your lifestyle and needs…you’ve got
to be responsible for these all at the same time.
As a freelance video producer, I don’t have designated places
I call “work” and “home.” Work is all the time…and yet work is never. If I have
a project I need to do, it’s always there in the back of my head, whereas when
I had a traditional job, I left all thoughts and cares about what I did to make
money back at the building I walked in and out of.
If I didn’t love what I do for a living, I would get absolutely
sick. I couldn’t function through the riddling anxiety I feel about work I have
to do but am not passionate about. But creating videos is my passion, my hobby,
my career…even part of my identity.
That being said! Look at why you want to be an entrepreneur.
Is it because you want to be able to afford some of the “finer things in life?”
In my opinion, that’s a poor reason to want to run your own business. Now, if
that is one of the reasons but you still have a genuine passion for your
business, then great, go for it. But no matter what your reason, you must learn
one of the most important skills of success: getting off your butt.
When I was 12, I got off my butt and made a short little
video. I just wanted to try it out. Eight years later, I could make enough money
to support a small family. I didn’t try it once and then decide I didn’t have
enough time or that I wasn’t very good. I kept going and going like an Energizer
bunny.
Getting off my butt is the biggest thing that separates me
from anyone else wishing they could do what I do. And you know what the
wonderful thing is? We all have that power.
The final thought I want to share is this: Keep your moral
code. If you said you won’t work on Sundays, don’t! If you don’t want to create
or be involved in anything profane, don’t! Make a list on paper or on the computer
(or in your mind at the very least), and decide today that you will follow
those rules. Things like putting your family first, never lying, hiring within
the family. Whatever. Anything that you feel is important to you and your moral
standing.
Entrepreneurship is so hard. But if you love what you do, it
will be one of the most rewarding aspects of your life.