#29: The Lifestyle Of An Entrepreneur

On Episode 29 of the Business 360 Podcast, we talk about what the daily life of an entrepreneur actually looks like. Spoiler alert...it's not the fancy cars, expensive mansions and sailing on yachts.

For more information, visit www.thinkbusiness360.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:27 Topic
• 11:51 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Business 360 podcast where we will take a 360-degree view of all things business in under 15 minutes, um, Rushab Kamdar a serial entrepreneur consultant, speaker and business strategist. I help entrepreneurs and businesses get profitable while also saving them time, money and headaches.

[00:00:28] Hey, what's going on business heroes. Welcome to episode 29 of the Business 360 podcast. And today we're going to talk about something that I think would be very helpful to many of you, if you're considering becoming an entrepreneur and that's, what is the lifestyle of an entrepreneur? I think there's a lot of misrepresentation out there on the lifestyle of an entrepreneur.

[00:00:50] Just for example, go on social media and you'll see. Quote, unquote entrepreneurs posing in front of luxury cars and expensive mansions, or they're on a yacht sailing in the Caribbean islands. And you know, that's really not exactly what a lifestyle and entrepreneur is. In fact, you don't need to be an entrepreneur to do all of that.

[00:01:11] You could have a very successful nine to five corporate job making a lot of money and still be able to live such a luxurious lifestyle. So I want to dispel the myth. On the lifestyle of an entrepreneur and really get to the reality of what that is just like I do in all my episodes. I try to keep it organized for all of you.

[00:01:33] So I highlighted seven areas to categorize a lifestyle and entrepreneur. The first one that we're going to start with is something that many of you heard over and over and over again, and that's entrepreneurs wear a lot of hats. So what does that mean specifically? Well, even if you work in a company, you can do multiple tasks, but when it comes to entrepreneurship, when we say we wear a lot of hats, it's really kind of wearing a lot of different titles.

[00:02:03] For example, today you may be the accountant of your company tomorrow. You may be the marketing director of your company the day after. You may be the chief financial officer. And you know, this is a very generalized example, but it's to give you an understanding that even if some of these titles and positions are not under your skillset, you still have to do them and you have to do them until you can actually build out a team so that you have employees or staff that can specialize in those.

[00:02:37] And that can leave a lot of people uncomfortable wearing a lot of hats is not easy. And sometimes you have to upskill yourself to learn how to do some of these titles and roles. If you're not comfortable with finance, but you're not able to hire someone else to do it, then that's going to leave you in a position that you have to dive in, go through the learning curve and be able to handle that the second area.

[00:02:59] Is that an entrepreneur has to make hard decisions. And that's not to say that if you're not an entrepreneur, you don't have to make hard decisions. But the reason I put that in there is because these decisions that you make well, things in your business and people in your business depend on these decisions and you can impact them for the better or for the worse.

[00:03:18] And when you do that, when you're making tough decisions, it can be very emotional. Think about how tough it is to make a decision that can actually impact someone's. For example, if you have to make budget cuts and possibly fire someone on your team or that you're trying to figure out why something is not working in your business, maybe your product is not being sold.

[00:03:43] And now you're thinking, okay, you know what? I'm going to have to price this differently. And that one move can make or break your business. Maybe it's your marketing campaigns. Maybe it's expanding your product line, whatever you have to do in your business. There's an impact to that. And some of these decisions can become very difficult and that what happens with difficult decisions is that you can get stress and you can have mental health issues.

[00:04:11] I remember an article that came out of the wall street journal, I think a few years ago, talking about. How some entrepreneurs who actually had a very difficult time in their business, whether it failed or something to that catastrophic effect happened. And they suffered from PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder.

[00:04:31] So remember that when you're going into a type of lifestyle where you have a lot, that depends on your specific actions, there are emotional and mental, uh, consequences that can come. And that means that you have to be built for that. The third area that I would highlight as a lifestyle of an entrepreneur is that you have to have the desire to want to solve problems.

[00:04:59] If you are, if you're not a problem solver, then you're going to be constantly in a place of unhappiness and entrepreneurship. See entrepreneurs, they're essentially wired to wanting to solve problems and in entrepreneurship, there's a lot of times you're putting out fires. So if you're not accustomed to trying to figure out why something is wrong and how to make it right, then you will find yourself in a position of just always being unhappy, always being under stress.

[00:05:31] You know, as we mentioned in the past point that you have to make hard decisions. Well, problem-solving is part of those harnesses. And you're not just solving your internal business problems and you're not just finding ways to pivot. You're also solving customer problems, because if you don't solve problems for your customers, then you're not going to be profitable because no one is buying.

[00:05:52] And obviously in entrepreneurship, your end goal is to get to profitability. So if you solve a customer's problem, then that means you created a. That they want to buy, and if they buy it, you're going to make revenue. And if you're running your business, right, you're going to become profitable. So make sure that if you want to get into entrepreneurship, you enjoy problem-solving and that you thrive in it.

[00:06:17] The fourth area to understand a lifestyle entrepreneur is that your schedules are consistently inconsistent. So the entrepreneurs don't have a set schedule, at least when they're starting. As the business becomes more stable. Yes. Routines can be built. And even today with the way the world is, entrepreneurs are pushing for a better work-life balance for themselves.

[00:06:40] But being a business owner means that you have to work when it's needed. And that could mean weekends. That could mean holidays. You just have to give up some times the pleasures in life because you have to ensure that the business is going to. There are some entrepreneurs today that are working shorter hours and they're making a lot of money, but I will tell you that their upfront work to get to that point was a grind.

[00:07:03] And they probably had many sleepless nights and worked many long hours and long days and long weeks. And they probably gave up weekends and holidays. When I got into entrepreneurship at a young age, I remember I had to miss friends, weddings, and vacations that friends and family took. I remember there was one of my businesses where I was being woken up for about two months in the middle of the night, whenever a problem happened, because it was international.

[00:07:30] Just to give you an understanding that there's never a set schedule, but once you get more stabilized and you have a team in place, you can create a schedule that works for you and works for the lifestyle that you dream of. But if you're getting into entrepreneurship, just understand that your schedules will be inconsistent at least early on.

[00:07:51] The fifth area to understand the lifestyle of an entrepreneur is inconsistent income working professionals that work a nine to five receive a steady paycheck that steady paycheck gives this calm sense of relief because you know that money's coming in and that you can pay your bills and live the life that you want for entrepreneurs.

[00:08:13] It's very different. Entrepreneurs are a different breed. We live in a world of uncertainty and that means we live in a world. Um, uncertain income. We don't know when our next paycheck may be coming in. And that basically shows that entrepreneurs are always living in this world of risk because the mindset for entrepreneurs is that we're always thinking of the long play, just work hard now, and we will reap the rewards later.

[00:08:40] And if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, entrepreneurs just start over. I remember talking to a person that was very successful in corporate America. And he asked what I do, and I told them that I had my own business and he was mentioning how his father had his own business. So I asked him why he didn't follow in his father's footsteps.

[00:09:01] And I remember him saying to me that he saw the stress and the struggles that his father went through. And he was just not wired that way. He said that he needed a steady paycheck because that gave him a sense of security for his. For his lifestyle and for what he wanted. So just remember if a steady income is your primary objective entrepreneurship.

[00:09:21] Again, at least early on may not be the lifestyle that you'll enjoy. The sixth area to understand the lifestyle of an entrepreneur is that you're constantly living in a world of risk. Every decision an entrepreneur makes is a risk. You can try to mitigate that risk. You can have calculated risks, but.

[00:09:41] Everything from the type of business, you start as a risk. The product you sell is a risk. The price points that you put on it as a risk, the operational systems that you create as a risk, the team that you hire is a risk. And even the debt that you may take on is a risk. There are no guarantees in the world of entrepreneurship.

[00:09:58] Even successful businesses can feel. I think about blockbuster for those that may not know a blockbuster, it was a very successful video rental business. And then Netflix came along and blockbuster did not change with the times. And they were out of business. It's a world of risk. Entrepreneurship is not a guarantee.

[00:10:20] And if you don't pivot and adapt and put in the right strategies, then the chances of your business failing are high. And finally, the last area to understand a lifestyle. Is that you have to be in constant self-development you have to keep improving on yourself. If you remember, I said, you have to wear many hats and you have to apply.

[00:10:39] Well, upscale means learning something new that you're not accustomed to doing before. That may not be under your scope of, of, of skillsets. There's a lot of entrepreneurs that get into coaching and mastermind programs because they want to keep bettering themselves, whether it's through for leadership, whether it's to learn your business strategies, whether it's to get the support from other entrepreneurs, you need that constant wanting to improve.

[00:11:03] And what I find funny is that there's a lot of people who want to become. And they come across these self-development programs and they think it's a scam because they're like, oh, these are just money-making programs. Well, listen. Yes, any self-development program is a business and they're making money and it's pretty ironic for someone that wants to be an entrepreneur to say that this is a making business.

[00:11:27] That's where entrepreneurship is. You're getting into a business to make. Now, whether they're scams, I mean, that's incumbent on you as the individual, you know, research these self-developed programs, listen to their free webinars or their podcast, or watch the social media. And if you like it, you buy it.

[00:11:43] And if you don't, you move on and find something that helps. But if you're an entrepreneur, you have to consistently improve and go through self-development. So what I want you to take away from this episode is that entrepreneurship. It can be extremely rewarding and could be extremely fulfilling, but you have to understand what that lifestyle.

[00:12:01] It's not for everyone and that's okay. Just don't get caught up in the fake lifestyle of luxury cars and mansions and yachts, and then jump into entrepreneurship. You have to like it. You have to like the lifestyle of an entrepreneur. You have to be willing to live a life of risk and a life of uncertainty and uncertain.

[00:12:21] And many of the things that I mentioned, because entrepreneurship is an ever evolving concept. Your business has to continue to change and survive. It's never just going to be, I set a nice business up and I'm done and I just sit back. You have to keep changing with the times. With the technology with the market and customer demand, but once you get into it, and if you like the lifestyle, that entrepreneurship can be one of the most fulfilling and rewarding things for you, that'll just about do it for us today.

[00:12:50] I want to thank you for listening and I look forward to seeing you next week, you stay classy business heroes.