Leza Parker: Entrepreneurship is an ongoing battle.

For the many times, I've emphasized how difficult entrepreneurship can be and this is not something I exaggerated. It's not just the struggles of trying to grow an idea while making ends meet, but more so the emotional turmoils, stress and mental challenge that comes along with it. Even after you've broken through and on a better path to success, sustaining the growth, picking up leadership, honing business skills, endlessly pitching, managing cashflow and consistently integrating to build network - is another whole set of challenges coming your way.

Business is easy, to a certain extent, when it starts making you profit. I was pretty much contented with earning by selling hair accessories from home, Bebebows. But I've grown the desire to do more - not because I wanted to earn more, but I wanted to earn consistently. The challenge with keeping a good business small is the higher chance of rising competitors, with more capital and resources, to shut yours down. I saw it coming, additionally I had the passion to try scaling it, so I went ahead to make it big anyway.

When I first thought, the process is going to get simpler through time - just on a bigger scale, I was wrong. It's not just ensuring from 10 - 100 orders a day to be packed and delivered smoothly, it also naturally comes with looking into expanding variety, having a standard operating process, evaluation of production and efficiency, understanding import and export when it comes to cross border transactions and the management of large teams (more people). My job scope grew bigger, my list of things to do piled up and my responsibilities were heavier.

But here is what to expect when it comes to growing that business of yours:

Be ready for rejection.

It's never always a yes. You think your idea is great, and your passion is deep but not everyone you meet believe in the same thing. Your potential investors would say no, your clients end off their contract, and your customers stop buying. At some point, some people will reject your ideas, your services and your products. You'll try to rectify if need be, and probably realised, the small minority of people are just never your fan due to their personal preference - but that is something you have to learn to live with.

Be ready for disappointment.

When it comes to investing in a project or people, you might never always get 100% of what you poured funds or time into. Projects get delayed, people cause problems, and investment do not necessarily reap returns. Yet, the people involved moved on to something else and hope to learn the lesson, while you bear the losses. I've reminded myself each time I hire - it's a risk of liability or asset for me - and some people became amazing resources while some people were unreliable, causing more harm than good. I know, there is much for me to learn, when it comes to hiring and I am not the biggest fan. Not because I am not willing to give people chances, but I know there is a risk of losses I have to bear even if people are learning mistakes or wrong decisions are made in a project. That I have to mentally prepare to potentially lose, on top of heartbreaks and disappointment.

Be ready for delays.

Timelines are projected, to me however is more like wishful thinking. You have an indication in your head, when you want to finish a deliverable and the cost of budget allocated for it - but it most likely stretch longer and burn way more money. It's not necessarily due to the inefficiency of the parties responsible for the project, but more so the new problems and issues that rises which you did not anticipate before. You'll ended spending more than you wish to, and the delay causes you distress and monetary losses. Delays will happen, in more cases than you imagined, you can only plan but you will see, no matter how detailed your plan is, the timeline is never entirely accurate.

Be ready for change.

If you speak to many entrepreneurs today doing successful business, I bet you that was not entirely the business model when they first started out. The mission might still be the same, but the execution have far varied from the initial proposal. Because in time, as you know your business better and measured all aspect that affects the idea growth - you'll start to tweak things for a better and different result. Through that, you'll discover better strategies or features that level you up faster - hence implemented it causing a massive diversion from the original path. This is why they say, the road to success if never black & white, nor is it a straight path. So no matter how attached you are to your business, the real survival factor of a business is the speed to evolve and adapt when it needs to. Every business needs to constantly change to adjust itself to reap the most benefits of the rapidly environment surrounding it.

Be ready for battle.

Your mind is a powerful driver, so choose very wisely (from the start), what you plan to fuel it with. The toughest battle everyday, for me, was never closing sales or investors. Though that is challenging as well, the real battle was always with myself. I am constantly fighting negative demons trying to kick out every inch of positivity I have at the end of my low days. I am fighting with a tired and sleepy mind, to stay focus on finding solutions to my every day problems. And I am caught up in this endless cross roads, between choosing the difficult path with heavy price I have to pay against the simplest option of giving up when the going gets tough. I am at war (in my mind) to refrain from over thinking about the worst things that can happen and holding on tightly to every bit of sanity still lurking in my head. I challenged myself to know more than what 24 hours allows me to learn, and be in control with more things I was weak in.

Entrepreneurship is an ongoing battle.

It's never a bed of roses, and definitely not for the faint hearted. The thing about entrepreneurship, is that you'll discover yourself through the experiences you go through trying to manage and grow the business. Each time, people tests your character or share their experiences, these information will start to trigger thoughts inside you that changes you a little bit each time. It can either break you or groom you, shut you down or propel you, contribute to your growth or push you back into safety - that is why entrepreneurship is a journey. And everyone of us are fighting a different battle everyday.

About me: Leza Parker

✎ Follow me on Youtube and my business blog. Over the many years, I've helped businesses grow and raised funding, invested and exited a few, and built my own tech start ups. Feel free to contact me.

You might like to read my other articles too:

1. How I "tricked" my way to land endless speaking gigs.
2. How three people sub-consciously mentored me.
3. The Know How of Personal Branding - It can backfire you or win you massively.

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