There comes a moment in life when you look at the TV, where they present a lucky millennial who managed to make a fortune from couple of vlogs. If you don’t know what I mean, check out Bethany Mota, who started recording couple of videos and posting them on Youtube and is now a successful celebrity! And there are many more like her; people who start low and manage to build multi-million empires in couple of years. But what are they doing? How do they manage to be so successful?
After all, there are thousands of people just like Mota, who never managed to become fashion icons or business moguls. The difference between success and disaster seems to be a specific mix of personal skills. You need to ask yourself if you do have these skills. In order to find out if you are entrepreneur material, ask yourself these critical questions.
#1 Do you love business?
When you are able to cook amazing dishes in the blink of an eye, your friends are going to tell you to open a restaurant. If you are rock even the strangest outfit, people around you will tell you to open a fashion business.
Unfortunately, this is how most people enter the businesses. And this is also the reason they fail miserably. In order to succeed in a business you have to know more than how to cook a great dish or how to set up an online store. Yes, you can read reviews on how to be a great manager and how to start your eCommerce business, by using inexpensive website builders, but you need to actually love doing businesses. To be able to set up an online fashion store, for example, you have to know how to pick the right people for your team. You have to know the costs of running the business and how much you need to make daily in order to make a profit. To be successful you need to have a vision for your business.
#2 Am I taking this seriously?
A business is meant to produce money and when it only drains your finances, you should really get out of it as fast as possible. If you look at restaurants, fashion businesses and interior design businesses that failed you will notice a trend: most of them had been established after the owner was praised by his entourage and encouraged to open a business. But these “friends” are not going to be there when your business is going to stop producing money. Chances are they will only be there as long as you give them freebies. When the freebies are gone, so are your cheerleader friends.
Before you open any type of business, online or offline, ask yourself how serious you are about it.
#3 What do I really want to do?
This last question is the most important and it should be the main factor of your decision to try your hands in businesses. What do you want to do?
As I said, most people who love to cook, think of opening a restaurant. Those who can ensemble a chic outfit go into fashion and retail businesses. Then they find out that that being an entrepreneur means you rarely get to actually do what you wanted. The owner needs to focus on hiring employees, paying bills and discussing fees with providers. A restaurant owner rarely manages to find the time to actually cook, the owner of an interior design business never manages to actually decorate anything. The owner is simply caught in other vital activities.
If you are ready to deal with management issues and logistics, then you are ready to open your own business. The reality behind the effortless websites, marketing campaigns and successes is a lot of work. Think twice before you quit your job and start planning your idyllic new life, as that new life might be less than idyllic.