When I started my business I knew what I was passionate about: helping entrepreneurs and small businesses. Why? Because entrepreneurs are driven by vision and passion to make tremendous sacrifices in the name of success.
Small business owners are dedicated, and work hard to make their sacrifices pay off in big ways—but what kind of sacrifices do they make, and how do they translate into success?
Starting and maintaining a successful small business takes time. A lot of time. To dedicate the amount of time their business needs to grow, entrepreneurs have to make personal sacrifices, like cutting back on recreational activities, giving up frequent social outings, and—worst of all—spending less time with family and friends.
Financial sacrifices are an equally important part of entrepreneurial success. Most entrepreneurs started working for someone else, and made the tough decision to give up job security, steady income, and good health insurance to work for themselves. Once they’re up and running, financial sacrifices often continue: small business owners often dock their own salary, drastically reduce personal spending, and tap into their own savings to grow their business.
Entrepreneurs know the risks, but sacrifice because they’re driven to succeed by their vision, passion, and dedication. They give now so that they can reap the rewards of their hard work later. And they reap. If their venture succeeds, entrepreneurs get back magnitudes more than they put in. Success brings more personal time, more financial security, and—maybe the best reward of all—more time with loved ones.
Even if their business doesn’t succeed, entrepreneurs are still driven by their passion, and often use failure to build future success. From defeat, small business owners learn important lessons, like when to be financially aggressive, how to manage their time, and why flexibility is a key component of growth.
Making sacrifices count and learning from failure are key characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. If you’re a small business owner, you can bounce back and make your sacrifices count by:
- Outsourcing: Don’t impede your growth by doing everything on your own. Finding the right bookkeeping software, figuring out cash flow, looking for logos, and setting up social media sites takes time. Outsource these tasks to experts working in the cloud. Doing so will save time you can use to grow your business, while experts do the rest.
- Using time and project management software: Use online software to organize your projects and manage your time. There’s great affordable software online that can handle your current and future needs. Getting organized will help you complete tasks and stay focused on achieving your short-term goals.
- Being Flexible: Don’t chain yourself to a rigid business plan. If it’s not working don’t continue to spend time on it—change it. To be more flexible, look for changes you can make to steer your business toward success, and be confident when you make them.
“If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.” – Dolly Parton