When people say that managing your own business is hard, do you know what they mean? More often than not, they’ll tell us about the workload and schedule. Being an entrepreneur includes having a schedule packed with appointments and meetings. You enter your office and see a pile of papers you have to go through and sign. You have to make all the hard decisions regarding the company.
These are things we already know. But there’s more to what meets the eye. Although being CEO of a company sounds fulfilling, it’s not as easy as they show on movies and TV. There are a lot of things people don’t tell you about managing a business. Here are a few of them.
The legal matters
One thing that’s put outside the spotlight when it comes to managing a business is the legal side of it. When you ask CEOs about what it’s like owning a company, they tend to filter their responses. Chances are, the legal matters are left out.
Putting up a corporation puts your company under the control of the State. That means you have to adhere to all the legal requirements and regulations in your area. Often, businesses face a lot of legal issues, commonly due to tax laws, permits, etc.
So when you do put up your business, or you already have, it’s best to keep connected to a corporate litigation lawyer. That way, you’ll have a well-versed attorney who can handle legal matters for you.
Everyone’s problem is your problem
When you’re managing a business, you’re also managing the people. All the employees are under your care. Even if you have multiple managers, supervisors, or team leaders micro-managing your employees, you still get the final say on everything.
Employees, being human, have emotions, and frustrations. And all those frustrations will be channeled to you as the “big boss.” Everything that goes wrong is your fault, even if it’s beyond your control.
That’s just part of it. You’ll be expected to carry and answer to every person’s load. So make sure you’re managing your people well.
Failure is inevitable
There are a lot of speeches and motivational seminars out there telling you that you are going to be successful. Well, you can be, there’s no doubt in that. But even with multiple successes, there’s bound to be a failure.
You might have been able to close a huge deal with a multi-national corporation. But along the way, you lost other clients. That’s the nature of the corporate world. You win some, and you lose some. It’s completely normal.
The only trick is to learn to accept that not everything is going to be a win. You will fail sometimes, but that’s okay. Business is all about trade-offs. If you have the right mindset, then you’re on the right path.
You’re not going to earn as much money as you expected
A common misconception about entrepreneurs is that they’re very wealthy. But that’s not the case. Some businesses don’t earn as much. And those that do make the smart decision to invest the money back into their company.
But if you’re in the business because it’s your passion, or because you want to be part of a significant change in society, then money shouldn’t be a big problem.
What we think we know about managing your own business is only the tip of the iceberg. The truth is, there’s no way of finding out the “secrets” until you get in and experience it for yourself.
