Entrepreneurship and You: Finding the Courage to start
By: Nikki Balthazar
Eight years ago, My husband and I decided to start down a path that would change our lives forever. At the time, I was just completing my Master’s degree and he was feed up with the corporate rat race. That is when our first real business was launched. I have to admit, there were many long sleepless nights and tears of frustration, but nothing could replace the feeling that I got each and every time I would open up the doors to my building. My building. Now eight years later, we both operate multiple businesses and would never go back to the employee life again in our lives. Extreme? Are you wondering why and how I could be so sure? Simply put, because entrepreneurship especially in the US, is the way that you build and create real lasting wealth for yourself and your family.
It is no secret that operating a business is not for the faint of heart. From establishing what you want to do, working with the professionals that will help make it legitimate, and saving to make sure that your personal life stays afloat while your business grows; This is not just something that one chooses to do, it is an entire lifestyle choice that you and your family has to live through each and everyday.
So many people ask me, how did you find the courage to start? For my first business, we just jumped in and felt our way around but as we developed into true entrepreneurs, we started to follow our personal 3P’s to evaluate our interest. Our 3P’s are Passion, Persistence, and Projection. For each endeavor we would come across or a business someone would ask us to invest in, we would apply our 3P’s to evaluate if it was right for us.
Passion
This is an obvious step for me. Some follow the money and for others it is all about the trends. For us, it has be an interest that drives us to want to make a business work. I believe in the Laws of Attraction and it has been proven that if we go through life hating what we are doing, we begin to delve deeper and deeper in hate. We begin to be disgruntled about our personal life, sometimes blaming the ones closest to us for our lack of happiness. Passion is the driving force that keeps us moving forward. Without it, for us, we will take a hard pass.
Persistence This is something that is very important in the early evaluation of whether a business endeavor or investment is worthwhile. If you are not willing to be firm in your continuance in your planned course of action no matter the difficulty you may face or the opposition you encounter, then you may as well hang up your hat now.
Projection Of the 3P’s, this is the most important to our continued success because without the thorough evaluation of the financials and our ability to launch a business so that it is as successful as possible then we may just be hurling money down a bottomless pit. We rely on some trusted professionals to help us make these decisions. We have an accountant, lawyer, and a specialized consultant that we consult with that will help in the evaluation of our decisions and mostly acts as sounding boards for us. Now, don’t let the mentioning of the “professional” deter you from wanting to proceed. There are many services that offer free or very affordable options for those that are just getting off the ground.
So, get to brainstorming and use these 3P’s when mustering up the courage to start up your own business. Start small and be patient. Let your passion fuel you and your persistence sustain you, while your projections lead you down the path to success!