The BIGG Successs Show
Can We Talk You Out of Owning Your Own Business?
We debunk 5 common myths about starting your own business. Find a written summary of today's show at biggsuccess.com. Sign up for our FREE Bigg Success Weekly for the tips and tools you need to be a Bigg Success!
Welcome to The Big Success Show! Today we ask, "Can we talk you out of owning your own business?" The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. Into it, the makers of QuickBooks Software conducted a study not long ago, and they found that 67% of working adults think about quitting their jobs regularly or constantly. Geez! That's a lot! It's a bunch of unhappy campers. We do have a link to that study on our site today. And along with that, 72% of working adults want to start their own business. And the number one reason for wanting to do that is because they want to feel more passionate about their work. And that's something that makes complete sense, right? If we're happy at work, we can be happy in our life. But here's the thing. 38% of the men say that their role model for entrepreneurship is Donald Trump. Followed closely by 34% who cite Hugh Heffner. It's got to be that silk robe, huh? And 66% of women say Oprah Winfrey is their entrepreneurial role model. Oh, my deoprah. And Mary Lynn, I guess, as I read this study, and I saw who people chose as their role models, it just, it made me realize that I think a lot of times we get confused by Hollywood about what it really means to own your own business. What is it like day to day to be that small business owner? Well, you don't just wake up suddenly have a hit TV show and a house in Hawaii whenever you want to get out of Chicago. Hey, you're fired. It took a lot of work and grit to get to that point. And coming up, we're going to debunk some common myths about owning your own business. Today, we're talking about a study that shows about three out of four working adults want to own their own business. And now we want to just share some myths, five of them, about owning a business. Myth number one, I won't have to answer to a boss. That's not true because if you've started your own business, you need clients. Clients bring in the money. Those clients become your boss is. Thanks for saying that, boss. Because your partner is kind of your boss too, right? If you work with someone, if you borrow money, your banker is your boss. The government is your boss. They're going to tell you certain things that have to be done by a certain time. You have more bosses than you can possibly imagine. Myth number two, I can set my own hours. I think we've all heard the ads. Wow, hey, I've got my own business now. I go golfing every day. Yeah, right. If you own your own business, especially when you're starting up, you are going to be working all the darn time. Your golf clubs are going to be frowning because they never get to go play. Oh, poor golf clubs. Well, in myth number three, I can get my employees to do the grunt work. Well, that sounds great, but when you first start, you may not even have employees first of all. But even then, you're going to probably be working on a fairly small budget. So you're not going to be able to hire as many people as you might like. It's not like the corporate world where we have a lot of people we can turn things over to. Resources that we can access owning your business means you're it. You're going to miss those coworkers that annoy you. Myth number four, I'll make more money. Well, if you're starting up, you know, it's all going to be money going out at first and not much money coming in. So although more money may be on the horizon, don't expect a windfall at the very beginning. Yeah. And you know, Marilyn, I always said, I started my own business because I couldn't find anybody to pay me what I was worth. And then I found out that I couldn't afford to pay myself what I thought I was worth. You're going to fire yourself? I did. Myth number five, I'll have less stress than I do with my job. Well, as a first-time entrepreneur here, I've experienced more stress than ever. And I mean, part of that is just being new to the whole concept of, okay, so what are we doing to make money? What do we have to do to make that happen? I mean, there's so much, there's that pressure, pressure that if your business fails, you're going to have to go back into the corporate world. They're stress and dealing with clients, they're deadlines, they're calling, they need this, they need that, can you provide it? It's coming at you from all angles. And the thing is, as someone who's been an entrepreneur for a while, it gets better, but it never really ends. And now that I'm back in a startup, it's helping me remember, unfortunately, how challenging it can be. It's always tough, and you have to learn to be a pretty tough bird. And there's always new challenges as you grow as a company, then you've got a new set of stresses to deal with. Absolutely, Marilyn. And you know, all of this conversation about owning your own business makes me think of the Jackson Brown song, "The Loadout." And in that song, Jackson Brown says, "They're the first to come and the last to leave, working for that minimum wage." I'm not going to sing it. But they're the first to come. Stay. Yes, you're a little too early. There you go. But the thing is, I always thought, you know, in the song, he's talking about roadies. But it occurred to me, actually, he may have been talking about entrepreneurs. Good point. Just keep this in mind if you're going to start up a business and get out there on your own. You've got to treat it like a newborn baby. Yes, it's going to take a lot of attention. Well, that too. And, you know, just prepare yourself for about a five-year horizon until that baby can start doing more on its own. And if this all doesn't sound so good to you, then we've done our job. Because the thing is, if we can talk you out of starting your own business, we saved you an immense amount of financial turmoil. Plus, the emotional turmoil that comes from getting started in something that turns out not to be the right thing for you. If after hearing all of this, you're more determined than ever to get going, to start doing your own thing, then you've got what it takes to be an entrepreneur. You can get a written summary of today's show on our site at Big Success. That's Big with 2G's Success.com. And while you're there, sign up for our Big Success Weekly. It's free. You'll get the tips and tools you need to be a big success. Next time, we'll talk about the art of knowing yourself. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. [MUSIC]