My Personal Challenges as an Entrepreneur and How I Overcame Them...

My Personal Challenges as an Entrepreneur and How I Overcame Them…

Every pursuit of a dream is a challenge. When you make a decision to go after your dream, the road is never going to be easy. There will be trials and triumphs…failures and successes. No matter how educated you are or how good of an upbringing you have, you will never be exempted. Success is no respecter of person but so are the challenges.

When I started my business a few years ago, it was a pure leap of faith. Did I expect to encounter bumpy roads? Being the always positive person that I am, I honestly have not. Perhaps I was being naive or ignorant and by nature, I tend to refuse to see and expect the negative. That did not mean to say that I did not encounter them as I went.

On this blog post, I would like to share with you some of the personal issues I have had to deal with and overcome as an entrepreneur:

1. Doubts and Fears
Doubt and Fear are cousins. These little creeps are psychological cancer that can paralyze the dreamer and eventually kill the dream. We all have these. Even those who have made it can never say that they never doubted and have never feared. The difference is how they handled it and overcame it.

I had to face mine when I started my web design business. I had to make a decision whether I will let it take over me or I will take over it and control it. Part of my doubts and fears lie on the fact I feel inadequate. I have no degree in business, I never went to school for advertising and marketing, I am self-taught in web design. I doubted if I can make it, I feared I might not get clients. Not to mention the fact that few years ago, I started other internet businesses that just didn't make it.

But all of these I had to set aside. I have to believe in myself because if I don't, then who else will? And even if there are people who believe in me, no matter how much they encourage me, if I don't go past my own doubts and fears, then their encouragement will only go so far.

An entrepreneur must have his own inner strength and self-belief that will propel him to achieving his dreams.

Does that mean that I never doubted and never was afraid again? Not at all! There are times when I still doubt myself. I still have fears to this day. The only difference is that I don't dwell on them. Never dwell on your doubts and fears because if you do, they will paralyze you.

2. Performing Out of My Comfort Zone
On my blog post Your Personality Type and Entrepreneurship: Do They Jive? I shared that my personality type is ISFJ (Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging). Yes, I am an introvert by nature. I know that by being in business, I have to overcome my shyness, especially at the beginning, when I had to wear many hats (Oh wait! I still do). I have to be able to talk to people and project confidence while at it so that I can earn their trust and business.

I must admit that this is still a challenge for me just because it is always a part of me, it's my personality. I just have to overcome it when I have to be on the phone with a client to earn a business or resolve an issue that involves my department.

See, when pursuing your dreams, personality type becomes somehow irrelevant. After all, you're following your heart and regardless of what your personality says you are, you are going after what your heart says you should go after.

3. Lack of Financial Resources
Not having the financial resources to start a business is a common challenge and perhaps one of the hardest one. Fortunately, these days, starting a web-based business is not as expensive as it used to be. When I started my web design agency, all I had was an idea for a target market and a few hundred dollars to get my business website up and running.

I did not really have set aside budget for marketing which is the biggest part of any start-up business. But I did what I could with what I have. At that time, although I was freelancing, my portfolio did not have enough of my niche market. What I did was I reached out to local organizations, introduced my brand new company and offered a low-cost website development to build my portfolio. Fortunately, there were quite a handful that trusted me with their business and I was able to build a great looking portfolio that to this day is still the reason why we get business.

These days there are a lot of free or low-cost marketing methods. All you have to do is just to find what will work for your business. If you require a higher start-up money, do your research. There is help available for start-ups.

4. Feeling of Wanting to Give Up
There are times when things just get too stressful or too much for me to handle. I must admit handling stress isn't my strongest area but I'm also proud to say that even though there are times when I feel like giving up, I just never do it! Thus, I'm still in business.

Like I said above, once you take that step of faith to pursue your dreams, it's never going to be easy. It was never promised to be easy. Setbacks are almost expected and there will be days when you would just want to give up. I had those.

I'm sure that Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Oprah and many more had these kind of thoughts too when it was becoming too difficult for them. The only difference is that even though they might have felt like giving up, THEY NEVER DID. That is why generations after generations, they still exist through the legacy that they have left the world…the difference that they have made through their invention.

5. Finding Balance
According to the Which Type of Jane Are You test that I took, I am a Go Jane Go type of entrepreneur. I'm just a GO GETTER like that, yeah! It's definitely a great entrepreneurial characteristic but it has a downside to it. In my case, it's a little extreme. Whenever I have an idea, whatever it is, I just usually jump right to it. I guess you can also call it impulsive. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that, often times, I go after what I want to go after then I find myself spread out too thin. Before I knew it, I'm everywhere, exhausted, stressed out, and shortly after…burnt out.

I also tend to work a lot. I feel weird when I'm resting, my mind is constantly thinking about work, what I have to do the following day and the day after and so on.

Thankfully, for the past month or so, I have learned to rest and relax. I make it a point to take weekends off (with only occasional blogging) to prepare myself for the week ahead. And boy, what a difference it makes!

What were the challenges that you had as an entrepreneur and how did you overcome them?

Until then!…

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5 Most Common Challenges Entrepreneurs Face and How to Overcome Them

Comments (2)

Lanetra Lewis says:

November 10, 2010 at 12:52 PM

Hi,
I just want to say that I really find your blog inspiring. the things that you talk about on your blog I suffer from. I am very hard on myself and i have to remind myself I am not the only one going through things.

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Zsa Zsa says:

September 5, 2011 at 5:12 AM

This is very inspiring Lynne. Thank you for sharing your journey and challenges as an entrepreneur. Always wonderful to learn from other women’s life lessons.
Zsa Zsa´s last [type] ..Joni Farthing

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