In recent years, many people have become very interested in the idea of becoming entrepreneurs, and many have indeed started up their own business ventures.
Entrepreneurship can certainly be a great thing – and can provide the opportunity for you to develop a professional vision of yours, to make your fortune, and to enjoy a significantly greater sense of meaning on a daily basis, in the context of your professional life.
At the same time, however, being an entrepreneur also inevitably comes with a range of different challenges and downsides, and it requires a particular temperament.
So, before you look into Creating an LLC, here are some questions for you to consider when determining whether or not life as an entrepreneur is right for you.
Are you willing and able to be in it for the long haul, potentially without turning a profit for years?
First things first: if you are frustrated that you aren’t making enough money in your current career, and would like to significantly increase your income in a short span of time, starting your own business is almost certainly not the way to achieve this.
When starting your own business, it’s important to understand that getting a business established will involve nurturing it financially as an investment, and you may go years without effectively turning a profit with that business. In fact, the business may never become profitable.
While there are certainly cases when a business has become successful virtually overnight, in a financial sense, these are definitely the exception rather than the rule.
Are you enthusiastic about consistently marketing and networking?
Running your own business means, to a significant degree, committing to consistently marketing and networking.
If you love the technical side of your profession or particular skill set but have no patience for marketing and networking, then becoming an entrepreneur may not be the right path for you to take – unless you are starting a business alongside other people, with some of them being specialized in marketing and networking.
Essentially, a major part of how any new business becomes more established and successful is by spreading awareness and making connections.
Do you have a clear professional vision that you believe has real potential?
Before you start your own business, you should ask yourself “do I have a particular professional vision or some core idea that I want to build on, or do I just enjoy the idea of running a business in general?”
In order for any business to be successful, it has to bring something new to the table that people find appealing, and that you will be able to engage in and work on enthusiastically, repeatedly, over a long period of time.
One great question to ask yourself, related to this, is “is there a specific thing that I’ve noticed is lacking in this industry? Something that I really wish was there already?”
If you’ve had this kind of observation, you might just be the one to provide that “missing piece” to the puzzle.
But if you have no real core idea to build on, it may be that entrepreneurship isn’t the right course for you to take just yet.