Last post I gave my top ten reasons for starting a business. There are a lot of other reasons, but these are the ten that keep coming up in my work with entrepreneurs.
Now let's look at the other side. What are the reasons for NOT starting a business. Here are my top ten?
10) It is demanding on your time. When I speak to budding entrepreneurs I tell them if they want to start a business the need to be prepared to work 28 hour days, 8 days a week.
There is usually silence after that comment as I see them trying to calculate what I just said. Starting a business is demanding and can literally suck all the time out of your day.
9) You have to deal with people who are not as committed to your business as you are. They can be employees, contractors, suppliers, or any number of people you need for your business to be successful. They are not as invested in your business on the same level you are. In fact, no one will be as committed to your business as your are. This can change your personality into someone others do not like.
8) You have to make difficult decisions. Yes, you get to make decisions for your business and take it in any direction you want to. You also have to decide to do things that are not popular. You may have to reduce your employee base. You may have to change suppliers. You may have to discontinue a relationship with a partner, who is also a friend.
7) Your business is your reputation. Bad things happen. You may have an employee or business partner who does something that goes against the culture you want the business to have. Worse yet, they could do something illegal. And it reflects on your business. It reflects on you.
6) You have to pay taxes etc etc. Business is not cheap. There are some taxes you just cannot get out of. You also have to pay employees, utilities, loans, and more. You will get paid last, after all those other obligations are fulfilled every month.
5) You have 5,000 bosses. You have to listen to your customers. You may want to take the business in one direction. But your customers are telling you, in many ways, they will do business with you if you go in a different directions Customers can be demanding. You are taking their money, they want what they want.
4) You will experience extreme frustration. You will be pulled in 73 directions at once, will need to fund the business, NEED MORE HERE
3) You have to do things you just do not like to do. There are many facets to a business. You may be the best at what you do, but you may suck at the business side of things. You have to know marketing, customer service, accounting, finance, forecasting, operations, organization, and a lot more. And you may simply hate doing those things.
2) You may get divorced. The business is demanding on your time, your energy, your personality, your love. At the end of the day (1 am) you have nothing left. And that person who has been your spouse, partner, lover, needs some of you. There is nothing left to give and the alarm will go off very soon starting another demanding day.
1) You can lose all your money. When I discussed the top 10 reasons to go in to business for yourself I mentioned money as the last reason. #10. Here it is #1 because starting a business is a HUGE risk and does take a lot of capital. If the business does not succeed you , and your investors, can lose everything that was put in to the business. Sure, there are ways to reduce and minimize the risk, and you should do all you can to do just that. But there are no guarantees.
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