This guest post is written by Joseph from Debit versus Credit. If you enjoyed what he had to say then please check out his blog!
Becoming an entrepreneur is risky business. The business world is a dangerous place; It’s four times as easy to lose everything, as it is to break even. The risks are huge but the rewards are far too tempting for many people to ignore. Unfortunately the vast majority of these would-be entrepreneurs are unfit. They don’t have the dedication, the patience or the skills needed to be successful.
I’ve had entrepreneurial aspirations at several points in my life. The most success I’ve seen is with my personal finance blog. It’s been around for almost a year now and I’ve just recently (within the past two weeks) produced a small profit. I’ve felt like giving up several times over the past year. It’s not been easy on my pocketbook, my time or my emotions. However it’s been important because I’ve learned several things about entrepreneurship and what is required to be successful. Likewise I’ve learned what makes one fail at entrepreneurship and that most people just aren’t fit to be successful at it.
Dedication is Key
Starting and running your own business is hard work and requires that you put all of your time, money and effort into said business. Without full dedication a would-be entrepreneur and their business are likely to fail. Thomas Edison, arguably one of the world’s greatest inventors and entrepreneurs is famous for his quote about what it takes to be a genius or in our case, a successful entrepreneur.
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Of course you all know that perspiration actually refers to the process of sweating. This quote then should not be taken literally because genius is not literally one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent sweating. What Mr. Edison means by perspiration is rather working hard (hence the reference to perspiration) towards what you want and what you are trying to achieve.
I’ve attempted the creation of a website (not a blog) with a specific purpose and audience at two points in the past. Unfortunately it went nowhere both times because I did not commit to it. I didn’t prove to myself, or those I was working with, that I was completely dedicated and therefore I set myself up for failure.
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
You’ve all heard the phrase success doesn’t happen overnight. Well sometimes it does. Not often, but it has been known to happen. That being said I’d like to talk about the next lesson I’ve learned about entrepreneurship. Sometimes success does happen overnight, but don’t ever expect it to.
By expecting overnight success you are setting yourself up for failure. Essentially you are telling yourself that everything will work out in a very short period of time. Well what happens if it doesn’t? What happens if you set a goal to be successful in your business endeavors within a period of six months but by the end of the six months you are nowhere near that level of success? You’ll quit. You’ll say if it can’t be done in the six months you were expecting then it can’t be done at all. If that is your attitude then you are probably right.
Don’t set yourself up for failure by expecting unrealistic things. Do set goals to achieve, but if you don’t achieve them (within a certain time period) and you put everything you had into it then don’t give up. Be patient. Good things really do come to those who wait.
Have You Got The Skills to Pay The Bills?
Skills are important when it comes to anything that you want to do. You have to know how to play basketball (and very well at that) if you want to play in the NBA. Likewise as an entrepreneur you need to have the skills necessary for whatever line of work that you want to pursue. Skills aren’t something that are just given. I want to make that point clear. They can be learned, and I dare say they must be learned. Six months ago I had no idea what CSS was, let alone how to do something as simple as use it to style a blockquote. Did I let that stop me? Absolutely not. I did everything I could to learn how CSS works and then learn how I could use it to make my blog look the way that I want it to.
Skills are important; it’s true. But just as I’ve learned that patience and dedication are exceptionally important to entrepreneurship I’ve also learned that skills are learned and although they are important they come in second place to dedication and patience. Be dedicated to what you want to do and soon enough you will have the skills to pay the bills.
If you’ve enjoyed this post then please check out my blog: Debit versus Credit. Also don’t forget to subscribe to my feed and for further reading check out what I learned about business negotiations in Mexico!
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September 5th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I think majority of the people who try to do internet marketing or something along those lines don’t have a game plan. They will see a headline sayd “How I made xxxx dollars in 7 days” and think they can duplicate the same but in fact they can’t.
It take time effort and dedication to build anything online or offline. Once you have your subscriber base and their trust its not hard to sell them self
Bruno Auger’s last blog post..Getting to Know the Kinds of Blog
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Blogging Millionaire (8 comments) Reply:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
I completely agree with you. Too many people believe the make money in 7 days. I am happy that you understand that.
Blogging Millionaire’s last blog post..5 Reasons Why People like Blog Posts with Lists
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BlackhatWay (71 comments) Reply:
September 6th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Haha. I tried to make money in 7 days for.. Maybe two years. Then I realized that I need to make a longer term plan and started to actually see results.
BlackhatWay’s last blog post..Flipping Websites: You Need Something Unique!
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September 5th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
That’s a nice post, probably inspiring for some to work even a bit harder than normal. It’s true what you’re saying, you do need to work hard for it, but that’s with most things you want to succeed at.
Rijke Scholier’s last blog post..Een Domein Registreren
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September 5th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Good stuff… I can’t tell you how many people I know that started a business and had it go under because they didn’t have the mindset of an entrepreneur.
Lazy people don’t succeed in business.
CreatingRevenueOnline.com’s last blog post..August ‘08 Revenue Report
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September 5th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
DEDICATION IS EVERYTHING!
Blogging Millionaire’s last blog post..5 Reasons Why People like Blog Posts with Lists
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Ganesh (106 comments) Reply:
September 6th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I agree with you. A lot of wannabe entrepreneurs are just not dedicated enough.
Ganesh’s last blog post..Subscribe to My Blog
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September 6th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Thanks guys for the positive feedback and thanks Jason for allowing me the opportunity to guest blog for you. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed writing this post up! Honestly I learned a lot just while I was in the process of writing it.
Joseph @ Debit versus Credit’s last blog post..Net Worth Statement, September 2008
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September 6th, 2008 at 3:44 am
That title of your post really caught my eye! Good post though, its true that success comes to those who persists. It is a minuscule minority who have it easy and quick.
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September 6th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Internet marketing is nothing but Card game….
But for any game we need effort and dedication…
i really agree with these points..
nice post
abdul’s last blog post..How to become a Successfull blogger
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September 6th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Most people don’t stay dedicated beacuse they are let down when they realize it actually takes WORK to succeed. You CAN make large amounts of money in short amounts of time, but what the “gurus” forget to tell you in their sales letters is that you usually have to learn A LOT from EXPERIENCE before you get to that point.
Great Post!
Cheers!
Jay
SuiteJ’s last blog post..Flippin’ Fridays: 7 Ways To Ruin Your Reputation As A Website Flipper
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September 6th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
This is Acceptable as all those who thinks to become an entrepreneur does not have all the things mentioned above
Harish’s last blog post..My Future and Present aims in Blogging
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September 6th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I always wish now I had realized that there are no ways to get rich quick before I got all those useless e-books….
Otooo’s last blog post..Freebies: Enter The Contest
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September 7th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Aspiring entrepreneurs need to understand that success will not come overnight. Too many people start internet marketing or blogging and think that just because you have a blog or website, doesn’t mean you will make money. Stay patient and don’t stretch yourself too far are two main points of advice that I’d give.
Bcarter’s last blog post..An appology to Romelo at I-Tong.com
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September 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
It’s a business, just like any other business. The individual tasks aren’t exactly rocket science, but as you point out, one actually has to do them.
Minnesota Weekend Getaways’s last blog post..Three Wonderful Art Museums in Minneapolis
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September 7th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
TUK, your rss count keeps going the wrong way… whats up?
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September 7th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
It is common knowledge, but nice post never the less.
Aleks’s last blog post..Funny picture – Mmmmm
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September 8th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Just make sure you don’t try and tell people how to make money online if you aren’t already. Good useful post
Ryan @ Smarter Wealth’s last blog post..By: Ryan
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September 11th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Yeah, The points you mentioned are indeed correct. I also agree with Ryan I never tell actual secrets of earning to anyone.
SEO Tricks’s last blog post..Namecheap September 2008 Coupon
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September 11th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Yeah, The points you mentioned are indeed correct. I also agree with Ryan I never tell actual secrets of earning to anyone.
SEO Tips’s last blog post..Namecheap September 2008 Coupon
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