The Dark Side To Owning Your Own Business
By Newton Asimov
I want to tell you literally the best thing we get to experience here at MachinaTek. Because we target entrepreneurs and start-up companies, we are often brought into the reality of doubt in our client’s demeanor. This is completely normal in any new business and sometimes all it takes is a little coaching and motivation to make it through the uncanny valley of business. When we hear a client thank us for re-igniting their own passions and fire to work towards their goals, this is the best feeling in the world. With that said though, the transparent knowledge of knowing the “dark side” of being an entrepreneur should be factored into everyone’s decision.
Taking this road is not for the faint of heart. It can be challenging and try every relationship you have. There will be nights where the “what ifs” keep you up, as you just stare aimlessly into the void of the night. The things websites and books often fail to glorify, and maybe they just forgot, is the 2 years with little pay. The fact that you need to somehow force yourself to become hyper-focused on your business which tests many of the boundaries of your personal relationships. I can only imagine right about now you are shaking your heads saying, “Yeah, I can do that no problem.” My answer back, and let it be clear, is not to frighten you away from taking this path, is there is a reason entrepreneurs only account for approximately 13% of the American work force and even that is pushing it a little high.
You read all the time about companies taking one, two, even three years until they turn a real profit. The fact is, and we can personally testify to that, it is true. True anyways unless you just created a renewable power source, you’re embezzling all of your money, or using child labor to create your profit. (Please note: MachinaTek Design does not support, condone, and it down right pisses us off with the use of slave labor.) It is true that working for someone else has the benefit of that guaranteed paycheck and security for your family. The life of owning your own business starts rough but it is obviously attainable.
Another huge point to bring up, and we haven’t seen too much online about it, is what we refer to as the “Entrepreneur Syndrome”. We know about this because just like most small businesses, we were guilty of it. You see people become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses for a plethora of reasons, but a very common one is to “Be your own boss!” “Awesome, I don’t have to listen to any one anymore, I am going to do what I want, when I want, and there isn’t a damn person to tell me otherwise. “ It is like the equivalent of your parents telling you that you no longer have a curfew. A pure sense of freedom.
Now after several weeks of going to bed when you want, you start to realize your way more tired in the day and continuously being late to obligations. This is no different in the world of small business. You very soon realize that if you’re a service based company, your new boss just switched titles to clients. If you’re in the goods industry the boss is now called consumers. I am not saying that you’re not the boss, you just have to meet obligations and fulfill responsibilities even more so then when you were a regular employee. People are counting on you for their lively hoods.
A great article on this is by Clate Mask, Co-Founder and CEO of Infusinonsoft. Clate writes, “My dad taught me something as a teenager that I didn’t pay attention to until I was buffeted by the challenges of starting a business:
Thoughts become words.
Words become beliefs.
Beliefs become actions.
Actions become habits.
Habits determine our outcomes.”
While this journey you are about to take or are currently on can seem difficult at times, you must understand you are in a constant battle for your dreams; and while most do not make it, yours will. It has too, should be your mind set. As cliché as it sounds, failure is not an option. Here at MachinaTek we are in our second year. We have had ups and downs but continue to grow and revise our systems and outlook. Because, take it from one entrepreneur to another, failure sure as hell isn’t an option for us.
