You are expected to be a leader, an inspirer, a fortune teller, a geek, a talent producer, an accountant...the list goes on.
Entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate that's for sure and that can either weigh someone down or lift someone to even greater heights - what about you? Which reaction do you have to the entrepreneur's dilemma?
How to recognise the entrepreneur's dilemma?
How do I work on the business when people need me to work in the business?
How do I gain all the skills that I need without diluting my enthusiasm for why I started this business?
How do I focus when I have to spin all these plates e.g. finance, marketing, sales, talent etc
How do I stay motivated to the dream when you get weighed down with the everyday issues of business?
The Entrepreneur's Dilemma is a test you need to pass each day before you can be successful
And just like any other test you need to study, practice, fail and start over again before you become proficient!
However there are some daily questions that you can ask to see if you are ready to be lifted by the Entrepreneur's Dilemma rather than be weighed down by it.
- Do you choose how you spend your day or do you allow yourself to be distracted? Be clear, when you are not working on creating customer experiences or on tools that will allow you to create fantastic customer experiences (e.g. funding) then you are allowing yourself to be distracted. Ask yourself at the end of each day "Was 90% of my working day, working towards my goals?"
- Do you decide the best way to spend your time - a limited resource? Yes, you can learn to do everything and yes that will mean not paying someone else to do it BUT....REMEMBER....not paying someone else doesn't mean it doesn't cost YOU. Remember time is limited so ask yourself "Is the cost of paying someone else less than the value I can create if I outsource it?"
- Do you hold a meeting with yourself weekly? Sounds strange right? But you invest time with others, you create time to build relationships and too often entrepreneurs forget the most important relationship.....the relationship to their inner motivation and inner self. Hold a meeting to make sure that you are happy with the work that you are doing. Hold a meeting to be honest about whether you are avoiding failure or even fearful of success. As an entrepreneur you can ignore your own feelings...don't....you are the heartbeat of the brand and you need to be healthy!
Being an entrepreneur needs you to inspire and motivate YOU before you can motivate or inspire people to want to buy from you.
Being an entrepreneur brings freedom but with freedom comes responsibility. Those annoying dilemma's are lurking, waiting for you to ignore them so they can make life hard for you. Dilemma's though can be vaccinated against by understanding them and by dealing with the dilemma's head on.
See the dilemma. Decide how best to address it. Act. Review.
Do that and the dilemma starts to whither and look for another entrepreneur to go and bug...someone who hasn't your strength to fight it, someone who hasn't your awareness that success as an entrepreneur starts with YOU.
The post Do you suffer from the Entrepreneur's Dilemma? appeared first on The Engaging Brand.