Debunking Small Business Owner Myths

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 20% of small businesses in the U.S. end up failing within a year. After about five years, around 50% fail, and after 10 years, only 30% are still up and running. Even after 15 years of running your business, you only have about a 25% chance of surviving in your market. These statistics obviously aren’t great. If you were going into surgery and the doctors gave you about a 25% chance of surviving after 15 years, would you want to go into that operating room?

People don’t start their small businesses expecting to fail. They want to unleash their new products and services to their customers and make their way towards becoming successful CEOs. That’s the dream. Unfortunately, a lot of small business owners fail because they don’t anticipate or understand the realities of getting to that dream. If you think that starting and running your own business is an easy path towards riches, then you’ll find yourself straying further and further away from your goals. It takes work. A lot of hard work. Separating fact and fiction when becoming a small business owner is one of the first steps towards reaching actual, substantial success.

Endless Vacation Hours

First things first: as the business owner, you’ll have full responsibility over your own time. That’s one great thing about being the boss; you won’t have anyone telling you when you can or cannot work. No more asking your manager if you can take a week off to go travel abroad (and having them deny your request because the team is short-staffed). However, just because you’ll be managing your own schedule, does not mean you’ll suddenly have loads of free time. It’s actually the opposite. When you start your small business, you’ll find yourself having little-to-no breaks. You’re going to be the face, manager, advisor, customer service rep, and financier (unless you’re able to hire people to do these tasks for you) of your business. It takes a lot of work to do any of these jobs, and you’ll find yourself doing most (if not all) of them. Starting your small business is easy; running and managing it is hard. You’ll be answering phone calls, replying to emails, creating your products, setting up meetings, and managing your social media accounts and online website.

However, it won’t always be like this. Thankfully, free-time is earned for small business owners, and when you reach a certain point in your journey, you’ll find yourself having more time to travel, rest, and hang out with family and friends than you ever did at your previous jobs. The myth that we’re debunking here isn’t that you’ll never have free time; it’s that you’ll start your journey with endless vacations. Put the work in first, and see positive results after.

Being Your Own Boss

Being your own boss is amazing, until it isn’t. Yes, you won’t have to follow your manager’s endless requests and orders. Instead, you’ll be following your own list of endless requests and orders. The work your business requires to reach success doesn’t stop just because you’re the boss now; it just gets put onto you. Understanding your role and the responsibilities it carries is one of the main steps you’ll have to take as a business owner. Being your own boss has its perks, and it also has its downsides. Nothing in life is ever easy, especially as an owner. However, when you reach your achievements, you’ll feel a sense of gratitude and happiness that you could never feel at a corporate job. You’ll know that all of your success is due to your hard work -- not anyone else’s.

All It Takes Is A Great Idea

Starting your own business requires a “great idea,” but what does that mean? Just because you create a product or service you want, doesn’t mean it will do well in the market. Before building your own website or spending hundreds of dollars to create your product, make sure you do extensive research on the market that you’re trying to jump into. Would customers really want or need your services? How much are they willing to pay for them? How well are your competitors doing? Is the demand for that product or service long-lasting or will it end up dying out in a few months? What kind of marketing or advertising methods does your product or service require? There are many qualities you need as a business owner, and being a great researcher is a main one.

Owning A Business Is Always Exciting

We’ve all experienced burn-out. Whether it’s starting your New Year’s resolutions or a new hobby, at some point during these journeys, we get bored or tired. A lot of us find ourselves saying, “I’ll go to the gym next week,” and end up never going back. It’s in our nature as people to get tired of doing the same things every day, even if we were excited in the beginning. Remember our first day of college? New place, new people, new everything. But then we get hit with nonstop assignments and tests. Did we feel that same excitement when we went back after the summer? This holds especially true when we’re starting our own businesses. While we’re doing the things we love, we can find ourselves getting tired of the routine: talking to customers all day, answering emails, constantly changing and improving our online presence, going to client-meetings… When does our list of responsibilities end? That’s why remembering why we started our business is one of the key ways to avoid this intense burn-out. Our motivations and aspirations are what keeps us going. Why did we start our own business? Who do we want to be? Where do we want to be in 5, 10, or even 15 years? Yes, experience all the joys and excitements as you start your own business, but remember that when you’re experiencing burn-out, it’s not the end of your business journey. IOn the contrary, it marks the true start.

Being a business owner is tough, and a lot of successful owners won’t tell you that. There is a lot of truth behind the myths they tell you, but realizing reality is critical for anyone who wants to start their own business. Yes, it’s exciting, nerve-wrecking, and joyful, but it’s also a lot of hard work. Understand what you’re getting into, and make plans for any obstacles you might face along the way.

If you want to read more about Barbie’s journey as a small business owner, check out the rest of her website at barbiepatel.com. Or if you want to learn about her bridal services, visit her website at cinderellabridez.com.