If you are considering starting your own business, it is easy to talk yourself out of it.
There are too many falsehoods and myths out there that paint an inaccurate picture of what it means to start your own business.
As seen in the recent post, A 9-Step Guide: Quitting Your Job to Become an Entrepreneur, it takes careful planning and strategy to start your own business. Believing inaccurate stories about entrepreneurship is not helpful.
Here are six entrepreneurial myths to ditch today.
1. Entrepreneurs are bold risk-takers.
Sure, founders do take risks in starting their own businesses, but that does not mean that risk-taking is at the heart of starting a company. The key to entrepreneurship is to take calculated risks that are based on an informed understanding of the market and the potential of a new business.
While entrepreneurs take risks, those risks are balanced against potential rewards. The key with risks is to understand that some will result in “failure.” Good entrepreneurs learn from these mistakes and use them to inform future risk questions.
2. It’s all about the money.
Sure, most entrepreneurs go into business to improve their livelihoods and earn some cash. But it is not all about the money.
Many business owners make the jump because they have always wanted to run their own business, be their own boss, and challenge themselves. Others believe strongly in the product or service they are offering and want to see people improve their lives through its use.
3. Big personalities rule the roost.
You do not need a big personality to be successful in business. Many leading business people, including Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Bill Gates (Microsoft), are introverts. The image of the brash, loud, and extroverted business leader is not just inaccurate but perpetuates stereotypes that are wrong.
4. They know all the answers.
Entrepreneurs need to know some of the answers and know how to find the right answers, but none go into a new venture knowing exactly what they need and how to get there. Entrepreneurship is an iterative process of experimentation; some experiments are a success and others are not. From each experiment, the entrepreneur learns and improves, modifying plans and experimenting some more.
5. It’s work all the time.
Entrepreneurs are usually very invested in their businesses, especially in the beginning. That means they often invest a number of hours in their work, often out of sheer necessity.
Entrepreneurs are their own boss and can set their own hours. The smart business owner makes sure there is some balance, ensuring that the business does not consume or overwhelm other aspects of their lives, especially family.
6. You need massive amounts of capital.
It is true that most businesses require funds upfront to get the doors open. However, that does not mean drawing on life savings, maxing out all your credit cards, and securing loans or venture capital that require an equity share. There are other ways to fund entrepreneurship.
At Benetrends, we help business owners use existing 401(k) or IRA funds to fuel start-up and expansion costs. Benetrends works closely with entrepreneurs to establish the right business structure and complete the transfers of funds in days, not weeks or months.
To learn how Benetrends can help with your start-up funding, speak with one of our funding experts.