just wait and see

I love that I study commerce, I have read so many books about opening a new business and running a small business and I find it so fascinating. Recently I have worked in a restaurant that just opened up and in doing so I have had the opportunity to watch them iron out the wrinkles that occur during the opening night and the following few shifts.

What I can tell is that the whole ideal is very stressful, but it is interesting in that most of it is self-induced. The owners of this restaurant were so worried that stuff would go wrong even though there was very little they could do about it (Stuff was always going to go wrong).

So I think the main sources of stress come from 2 sources.

Firstly the money situation causes much pain. These guys didn’t show it too much but living off savings and watching them slowly drain away is a huge nightmare; my response to this is that you need to learn that money means nothing. The only reason money is so highly valued in today’s society is because we believe it to be (Other people’s money is a different matter however). Loads of people live off tiny pay-checks and have no more difficulties than the rest of the world.

Another problem is the social costs, as a business owner you have to ask favours, cold call, network and build business relationships. When a social venture pays off (Like gaining a big contract) it pays off huge, but you have to go through an incredible amount of rejection to get to that success. People hate rejection, so most will take the rejection personally and be tempted to give up. DON’T GIVE UP BECAUSE OF REJECTION.

If a business is going to go belly up the only thing you can do is learn from the experience. Yes it might be an expensive learning experience but hey, all successful business people have to pay the same dues, you are just paying yours so you can join them in their level of expertise.

These two areas, the social risks and the financial risks are what cause the stress and pain in business ventures. Humans are programmed badly, social risks never damage anything permanently (Except your ego) and money is such an unimportant thing. If you stop worrying about these things then you can enjoy your business, and running a successful business is one of the most rewarding things possible.