The Entrepreneurial Journey
When you get the glimmer of an idea in your mind and you begin to think that you might want to start a business, all kinds of strange things start to happen to you. It’s called The Entrepreneurial Journey.
Here is the Entrepreneurial Journey Model to take a look at here.
You’ve got a brilliant idea and every fibre of your being buzzes with the thought of it. Even if you’re the cool, calm, collected type, you get a mild tingly feeling which isn’t just pins and needles. The idea eats away at you, it begins to creep into every area of your life and starts to become almost obsessive. In fact, it is obsessive. You dream about it, watch YouTube videos about it, scan the horizon for things that might be similar and hopefully find nothing that comes close.
You make pictures of it in your head, you talk about it to yourself and maybe to other people, some of whom think you’re probably mad. Some of those people will tell you to stick with the day job, think about the mortgage and pension scheme and you might just put the idea away for a while.
It Keeps Coming Back
But it keeps coming back. The entrepreneurial journey won’t go away and let me tell you right now unless you act on it, that idea will never go away, it will sit in the deep recesses of your mind and give you a prod every now and again just to remind you its still there.
You finally get sick and tired of wishing and you make a decision to take action. “That’s it!”
Then you say to yourself. “It’s now or never.” And you take the plunge. You give up the day job and the illusion of security you get from a salary (it is a complete illusion that a salary gives you security) and take the plunge.
Eventually, you buy the domain name, get your best friend who is quite good at design to design your logo (it’s not a brand yet) and you get going.
Some of you have huge ideas which require funding and you get deep into the business strategy and planning side of things, arming yourselves with cash flows and projections that look amazing. Crikey, you’ll be a millionaire this time next year!
Even if you only ever want something small scale, you still have to get fully engaged with your vision and you have bags of enthusiasm. Bags and bags of it. Your energy levels are high because you’re running on adrenaline at this stage. People are supporting you, wishing you well and hoping you succeed and you feed off their positivity. It’s going great because you get some customers and you start selling things.
“Yes!” You think, “this is really happening, I am really running my own business. The entrepreneurial journey has begun.”
What Happens When the First Blockage Hits You?
Then it hits. That first blockage, the brick wall, the black hole, the inflection point, the pit of despair – there are so many words to describe this phase of business growth – pick the one that you feel best fits your mood. We like to call it wading through mud. You can make tiny amounts of progress, but then you get pulled down into the crap again and struggle to get out.
If you hit this, there is a danger you can slip into fear – “What if I made the wrong decision? What if I fail? What if I can’t pay the mortgage? What if no one ever wants to buy what I make or do?”
If things get really bad, this can slip further into anxiety and maybe depression.
There is a way out. There is a way to re-energise, re-engage and pick yourself up to keep going. In fact, there are lots of ways.
Let’s look at a few:
- Keep focusing on the purpose of the business – why do you do what you do? Use our Horizon Model and Culture as a Foundation for Growth courses to get you on track with this
- Make sure your vision is crystal clear. You should be able to feel it, see it and hear it in your head as though you have it now. Our course coming in September called Thinking Big (really) Big will help you with this
- Meet people who have been there. Share how you feel. They have all been there. Running a business is hard, really hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it. We’re partnering with business membership organisations to point you in the right direction – FutureX being the first to come on board sharing Tricres with their members, check them out
- Find things that give you energy. Reading, running, walking, talking, painting, listening, cooking, creating, spending time with loves one……….. it doesn’t matter what it is (it has to be legal and not infringe anyone else’s rights!) do the thing that gives you energy. We’ve got a link to a mediation app called Holistrio that can help keep you calm and re-focus your energies
- Fall in love with the vision again. If you can’t love it with all your heart, then do something else. Seriously, if you don’t love it, then do something else. Please.
Invest or Re-Invest
Then invest or re-invest. This is a leap of faith. It means you will spend something and there will be a period of time before you see a return on that investment. It will feel like there is no safety net. There is always a safety net, you can always go back to what you were doing.
Spend resources (time, money, energy, effort) on learning more, developing yourself, your business and your knowledge and expertise. Be hungry to expand your learning, it will give you new impetus to keep going.
Start on that cycle again.
Get excited, energised and enthusiastic about what you’re doing and that leap of faith will pay off. No one knows how long it takes to pay off, but it will.
This cycle is repeated over and over again, sometimes in a single hour! Business owners across the planet experience this, whether it be a sole trader or a multi-national. It’s part of learning. In fact, if you don’t go through this process, you won’t learn anything worthwhile.
There are people out there who will hold your hand, wipe away the tears of frustration and anger and get you back on track. Make sure you buy them presents when they help!
Use our knowledge, learn from our mistakes, take what we teach business owners and leaders just like you and use it. We know it works. We’ve tested it over and over again.
There are no gimmicks, no quick fixes and no shortcuts. Just good quality content curated for business owners like you. We promise.
Go ahead, what are you waiting for, start or continue your entrepreneurial journey right now with Tricres. We’re right there with you. We’ve been there. We understand what you’re going through and let us tell you, it’s worth every single sacrifice, tear, moment of joy, despair and frustration because you grow as a person each time you learn and you feel really alive. Now, that has to be better than just waiting for your pension.
For those of you who love your salaried job – this applies to you too. If you’re passionate about the business you work for and what you do, this relates to you, plus you get the added bonus of actually having a pension! Brilliant.
