Are you an Entrepreneur or Self-Employed?

In the previous article we touched on entrepreneur versus self-employed.

South Africans are can-do people. “’n Boer maak ‘n plan!”, is an all too popular saying. However, it’s one thing for the “boer” to make a plan. It’s another thing for that same “boer” to make his or her plan into a business. A successful business.

The problem is that we start off at a disadvantage as our education system, even our higher education system, is designed to make us all into employees. Not an excuse – just a fact.

It is only when a desperate need arises that we employees decide to risk getting out of the boat and start walking on water, often sinking and needing rescuing. But a few, a very few, do succeed in becoming an entrepreneur and walk on the water.

Why is that? Why can’t we all just read a book or watch a video on YouTube and up, up and away we go?

Discomfort.

Yes, discomfort is the single biggest reason why we are not all great entrepreneurs. You see, in order to become just an ordinary entrepreneur, not even a super successful one, you need to get out of your comfort zone. You need to be willing to risk getting egg on your face, crawl on your knees and fall on your face, at least 10 times, perhaps a 100 times. As many as it takes.

That picture does not really go well with the one where you stand all dignified getting your 25 years’ service plaque.

Please understand. There is nothing wrong with being an employee. There is nothing wrong with getting a 25 years’ service award. These days, if you last 5 years in a job, they should give you a gold watch.

But in order to be an entrepreneur, you need to think differently.

Robert Kiyosaki says there are three parts to a successful business. The right people, the right opportunity and the finances to make it happen. Rarely are these three parts found together. An entrepreneur is someone who takes one of these parts and starts looking for the others to turn it into a great business.

When you are self-employed, you rarely go out to find new opportunities. You do the work in front of you as best you can. You work hard and faithfully as your clients depend on you. Long hours are the norm and word of mouth is quite possibly the only way you get new business.

But what if? What if you can be a self-employed entrepreneur? Will that not be a win-win?

Well, to make change happen, I need to change first.

I find that marketing and sales is an all-encompassing task, and I rarely feel up to it after I’ve done my bank recon or uploaded some expenses.

I have a very technical job, so getting stuck into complicated tasks is easy for me. Getting stuck into marketing and sales and business planning is the extreme opposite. It is extremely difficult.

So, how about you split your day? Divide it into time slots so that you can focus on specific things during specific times. During the quiet times of the day, you do the intensely difficult tasks or the ones you’d rather not do at all. Find a time when you can attend to your customer’s problems or queries. Find a time slot when you can do your work.

But most definitely find a time when you can do something to make your business grow!

Hey, I never said it was going to be easy! I’m not selling a get-rich-quick scheme here!

I’m saying that, in order to have change, you need to change first. As with most things, you need to start in the first square meter around yourself.

True story. I know an electrician whose business was mediocre, and he and his family were just getting by. He decided he wanted to change that, so he joined a network marketing company and learned how to sell. He surrounded himself with successful business people who knew how to do business. Today he has a very successful and lucrative electrical business, with teams working for him and he and his wife travel far and wide.

The question is. What do you need to do to make the change happen in your life and in your business? If you can find the answer to that question, go out and do it!

It will indeed change your life.

Season's Greetings

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients for supporting us this year and working with us to make your business and tax lives easier.

May you have a blessed festive season and enjoy the company of family and friends.

From Everyone at iFama.

Resources: Kiyosaki, R.T. and Lechter, S.L. (2005) ‘Three Parts of a Business’, in Before You Quit Your Job. New York, NY: Warner Business Books, pp. xx–xx.