Why would a new entrepreneur lie to themselves? Although that may sound harsh, I think you will see what I mean by the end of this short post. Frankly, there could be many reasons. In this case though, it’s because we have good intentions when starting the business, but the memory of those intentions gets drowned out by the daily tasks involved with growing.
So what are these two lies we tell ourselves as new entrepreneurs just starting a business?
“I will fire fast.”
“I won’t have jerks as clients.” 😲
“I will fire fast.” Most new entrepreneurs have envisioned when they will be able to hire their first employee(s). Sometimes it’s day one, and sometimes it’s much later depending on the industry. Sometimes they may not even be W2 employees, but rather contractors that help with different aspects of the business. And what do we tell ourselves we will do if it’s not working out? We will let the person go and find a better fit. Not that we are ‘mean’, it’s just good business sense to find people that are able to do the job well. This is the right intention, but unfortunately we don’t always execute on our intentions as well as we should.
Frequently new entrepreneurs are very attached to their early employees. We say things like, “they aren’t doing well but I really need the help,” or, “they probably will do better if I just give them more time.” And then when they have been with us a while, “they’ve been here a long time... I hate to let them go.” We start our businesses with the intention of getting the “good help” we need, but end up hanging on to individuals that aren’t doing well and frankly would be happier elsewhere if we just let them move on. We need to stick to our original intentions and make important decisions quickly.
“I won’t have jerks as clients.” This one is even more damaging. We become self-employed so we can hopefully do well financially, but definitely so that we can do things the way we want to, including working with people we enjoy working with. Somewhere in the early days between when our last paycheck ends and when our bills start to become due, we get concerned about producing enough revenue. Then the lie enters our mind... ‘any paying business is good business’... right? We start to accept work that is outside what we intended, from people we don’t enjoy working with, and although it creates some cashflow it drains our joy slowly but surely. Unfortunately, if this isn’t remedied early in the life of the business, we end up feeling that the business owns us instead of the other way around. We need to stick to our guns early in the business and hustle to find the clients we truly wanted in the first place. Trading joy for temporary revenue may work temporarily, but we all know it can become a trap, which is not why we became self-employed in the first place.
“But I can’t do it all myself, and I need to make a living!” Yes, both of these are true. However, like most things in life, if we take the time to diligently build what we truly want, we will come out happier in the long run.
If you need help working through any of these areas, please reach out on our Contact page.
Until next time, I truly do wish you the best in your business.
Mark Goldman
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