What Is Your Biggest Challenge Changing From Employee To Entrepreneur?

Hi Dr. Meg,

Not having a steady paycheck each week was the biggest challenge for me.

I had to leave the "get paid at the end of the day" mindset behind. In the beginning, if I didn't receive an opt-in or sign-up in one day, I'd flip. It was as if the world ended, for I was under deep financial strain and burned all my bridges. Gradually I came to release on this wicked attachment.

If I had to do it all over again of course I wouldn't change a thing for if I didn't burn my bridges - making my businesses my 1 and only income generator - I never would have adopted the strong drive to succeed that I have now.

To the newbies out there if you feel you have the strength to do so burn all bridges. Adversity fuels a fire that prosperity could never form.

Thanks for sharing and have a powerful day!

RB

This is a great thread. You asked a good question. I liked Ryan's answer too.

I will add my perspective as someone who walked away from a high paying corporate job to pursue my dream of building my own business.

The biggest challenge when going from employee to entrepreneur is making the proper mental switch. When you are an employee, your belief system says that you should be compensated X amount based on the number of hours worked. It is predictable. If you work 40 hours, you can expect 40 hours pay.

As an entrepreneur, this belief system gets shattered. You are compensated entirely based on results. The results of your ability to sell yourself, your business, your brand, your value. You can work weeks on end and see NO money in return. But you cannot calculate it as a loss. You must calculate it as an investment into your abilities.

Being an entrepreneur toughens you. I think many people in North America are spoiled and don't truly appreciate the comforts they have. I know because I was guilty of it. After losing my salary and then investing all of my money into my business, I appreciate EVERYTHING so much more now. I appreciate the money I earn more than ever before. I also feel much better about the money I earn because it comes from a passion. When I was earning money in the corporate world, it was ONLY income to me and I got no personal satisfaction out of it.

Having fought the entrepreneurs battle and come out on the winning end after 3 years, I can tell you that I have ALL the respect in the world for people who have built huge successful companies. The odds to do what they did were stacked WAY against them.

As an employee you have a steady income you know that every payday you’ll have a pay check.

As an entrepreneur you’re never sure what each week will bring. You must change your focus and your attitude. You must decide that you are going to make it and plan on what you are going to do to make it.

Keeping yourself positive it probably number one followed by always learning and improving on what you build.

I think there's a few key factors that make the transition tough.

#1: As entrepreneurs we're paid for value not work...If people don't think our product is worth the price tag we won't make money and it doesn't matter if you spent a thousand hours developing it.

#2: Time management and making online business a part of every day life is HUGE...

#3: Mindset...people kind of have to sit down and believe they can make the transition as well as have the dedication to commit to making a living online.

#4: FOCUS..probably our biggest disease in making a living online is overwhelm...we're left with thousands upon thousands of ways to make money online so it's kind of hard to pick just one way to make money and stick with it.

Hope this helped some...

I picked four which is a lot but I don't know how to pick one...I guess #1 most important would be focusing on just one idea until completion an #2 would be time management...

Aaryn

An Entrepreneur should have the qualities of both. While transitioning, The biggest thing about being an entrepreneur is that it takes a lot of WORK just like being an employee, but the payoff can far exceed what a job gets you, and isn't proportional to the hours worked, but the quality of work put in.. And an entrepreneur is always thinking of ways to expand and scale up the business while providing the best services/products they can..

Have the Work Ethic of an Employee, but the mindset of an Entrepreneur.

I'm just trying to paraphrase notes from a multi-millionaire I had the privilege of being with on many occasions. I'll try to repost what he said.. These are just what I remember..

The transition time.

It's so difficult to transition from employee to entrepreneur because I have to be both at the same time!

I still have my normal 9-to-5 responsibilities plus all of this IM stuff on my shoulders too? Wow, it can be a lot.

Luckily I'm not quitting this time.

I would have to say time allocation. As an employee your employer structures you, delegates work and sets goals. In almost any job are essentially their virtual assistant and just do what you are told. Some virtual assistants may do keyword research and thinking, but they are still given pointers and deadlines. Then again, that is the risk/reward tradeoff. You leave a job at 5PM, and you don't have to think about it anymore. Not the case with with your own business!

My transition was delayed due to the amount of time I had invested in my career. By the time I'd embraced the concept of going it alone, I was too close to retirement eligibility which included a pension and medical insurance. From what I've seen, the further along you are in life, and the more you have to lose, the harder it is to make the transition. I invested a lot of time in my exit strategy from a fairly lucrative career that I could have continued if I'd chosen. I left exactly when I wanted and the transition was actually much easier than I had anticipated.

John

Risk is a core factor when we have that transition period. Because we have a guaranteed monthly salary as an employee. But it would be a fixed one. In that time we have to take a risk to make more by own business. So I believe getting risk as a big challenge.