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2019 Wish List
I’ve been a very good entrepreneur this year: I’ve paid my taxes, I haven’t missed almost any working day due to health issues and I’ve done a good job by keeping most of my clients happy.
My wish list for 2019 is an easy and short one: Please, let me keep things the same way and let me keep enjoying my job.
Noelia
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Let’s be clear, when you are an entrepreneur, this is just “a wish list”. Reality has something else prepared for you much less idyllic. Do not get me wrong, being an entrepreneur is awesome; I would never change it for the world; however, I cannot deny how hard it is sometimes.
While thinking about what to say in this post to make it worth it, I took the liberty of asking some people I trust the reason why they decided to become entrepreneurs. I asked both women and men who, at some point in the past. some longer ago than others, stepped up and started running their own companies and businesses. The reasons why anyone would make up their minds about entrepreneurship are multiple. There is no right or wrong. It just is.
The answers to this little research were some such as
“Entrepreneuring for me is to turn my biggest skills into projects and to make those projects grow and generate abundance at all levels, emotional, physical and mental. Running a business without being happy is running nothing. I started being an entrepreneur in order to be able to offer a product / service that I would like to receive and that did not exist as such. And in order to have freedom of movement, hours, association ...
And to live in Lanzarote doing as I wanted freely” (female / early forties)
“I became an entrepreneur by chance, because I am not an entrepreneur in my profession. But the idea of being able to manage my time and not having a boss was something I had in mind for some time” (female / late thirties)
“The truth is that you know me well, and it was not a premeditated decision ... I knew how to design, I discovered internet in 1996, I wanted to work in this world and I looked for clients. Starting a business was the way to do what I liked. ;) I never considered having a company. I needed it to work” (female / late forties / owner of a business since 1996 / she has 5-6 employees)
“Freedom to travel the world and live on my own terms” (male / early thirties)
“As a customer, I always think about the benefits and the quality of services and how to improve them. Then, I made my way of implementing some of these services and thus allowing me to evolve and make the improvements that I think convenient according to the needs and habits of the people” (male / early thirties)
“An entrepreneur is generated when there is an interest in the wish to do something more than what a conventional job establishes, a job in which another person marks the line that you have to follow for the accomplishment of your work” (male / late sixties)
“It’s a motivation to start working in a new field of expertise and to grow up as a young entrepreneur. The aim of the company is to offer a service related to farming and focused on the technology we are using to make more efficient and productive “(male / mid-twenties / farmer / entrepreneur in progress)
When we read in detail what they all say, on the common ground, it’s curious how almost everyone had to think about it for a bit. Shaking our memory back to the moment we decided to become our own bosses is not something we do. And the thing is, most of us just haven’t given it much thought along the years. We are just entrepreneurs and we don’t pretty much know why at first. It was the way we thought it would be best to accomplish what we wanted and we made it happen. This kind of inner whispering telling you that you can accomplish anything on your own. You just follow your instinct and your dream in your own terms. And, needless to say, we got the means and the support to do it. This last prompt is extremely important when considering starting something up. We all needed help, and we all had help, whether from family, from the bank, from any state aid we could beneficiate... anything was useful and essential at early stages. After that, perseverance, strength and hard-work.
Lately, it seems as if opening a business is all about the internet and social media. No way, it is that and much more than that. It’s about many, many working hours and personal and financial effort and risk. It’s about an idea and a well-planned business plan which will help you foresee your project. I must say that, years ago, business plans were not required to start a business; however, nowadays it is a requirement any entrepreneur cannot skip. It’s about evolving and creating a product and recreating it. And on top all that, it’s about a great life and working experience to enjoy in a positive and cheerful way.
Part II is coming....
Pic by Ivana Cajina
