Why do you want to be an Entrepreneur?

Today I would like to talk bout something which is extremely close to my heart.

Why do we choose to be an entrepreneur?

I meet a lot of entrepreneurs on a regular basis through my consulting, investing or mentoring engagements. And whenever I meet them I make it a point to ask them “What made you startup?”, ” Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?”, “What drives you?”. I am keen understand the entrepreneurial mindset in order to gauge their intentions.

I get all kinds of responses. Let me list down some of the popular ones. Entrepreneurs often say:

• I am in it because of money and fame.
• Want to be by own boss and have freedom
• Quite a few says that they are really sick and tired of their mundane job or their managers and this is the only way out.
• Some even complain that their job doesn’t allow them to have a work life balance and entrepreneurship seems to be a way to attain it.
• Some just get in to it because its fashionable.

Well with the ninth year into my entrepreneurial journey and having setup 7 successful ventures, trust me when I say this. “All the reasons stated above are not the right ones.”  In fact they are extremely wrong motivations to start your own venture.

We have a perceived notion about entrepreneurs. We relate entrepreneurship to money, fame and success. But no one really sees the sacrifices, the hard work, the struggle and the relentlessness behind it. Forget about the money, you won’t see it for years. On an average, even the successful ones takes 2-3 years to monetize their business and I am being extremely optimistic about it.

I used to work in the financial services and the consulting sector before I decided to start up. I used have one boss and several reportees to work with. When I started my venture I barely had a team but had a bunch of bosses.  No you don’t become your own boss. You end up having multiple bosses and they are called clients as you are accountable for each and every one of them.

If you think your job is stressful, wait till you startup. All the fellow entrepreneurs reading this would exactly know what I am talking about. You do not get a better work life balance in a startup. Work = Life, that’s the mantra of entrepreneurs. That’s the work life balance. You drink, sleep, eat, dream about your startup. And you are going to do that for years. If you think that entrepreneurship is going to be easy, you are kidding yourself.

Entrepreneurship is extremely hard, but for some of us its even harder not to be an entrepreneur.

If we start with the wrong reasons, we can never pull through the tough times. When things gets difficult, you do have or get enough money, fame, time or any other things you are running after.

So we must ask ourselves, what is the real reason that drives entrepreneurs?

The one and only thing that keeps you motivated as an entreprneur, day in and day out, is Passion. Passion to create something new, passion to change the world, passion to create jobs and wealth for other people and passion to solvea real life problem. And passion is one such thing which you can’t fake.

Entrepreneurship is never a statement of fashion, its rather a statement of your passion.

Everything else is a byproduct. Be irrational, be illogical but make sure you have enough passion to fuel you through your entrepreneurial journey. Passion is the only thing that can keep you motivated during the toughest times.

So ignite your passion and start your journey. Wish you all the best.

Should you agree or disagree with me write back to me or comment down below and I would love to discuss with you and hear your opinions.

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