The Dark Side Of Entrepreneurship: 3 Hard Sacrifices Every Entrepreneur Must Go Through

image via Shutterstock / Kaspars Grinvalds

Let’s face it; the concept of being an entrepreneur is exciting for a lot of people. The notion that you’re the boss and you run your own business sounds quite appealing to a lot of people but unfortunately, there is a downside to entrepreneurship that most people don’t see.

As an entrepreneur, you need to go through a number of sacrifices otherwise you won’t eventually get to where you want to be. Now here are the 3 most common sacrifices every entrepreneur must face when they’re just starting out:

Work/Life Blur

Once you decide to become an entrepreneur then you need to be prepared for your private life and your work life to cross over all the time. If you’re just starting a new business then say goodbye to your private time for a while because you’ll be working 24/7 even when you’re not in your place of business. You’ll be thinking of new strategies, marketing techniques and ways of improving your business wherever you are and that’s just the tip of the iceberg because you’ll have dozens of phone calls and emails to attend to. At some point, when you’re business has finally stabilised then you’ll find a healthy balance between your business and your private time.

Unstable take-home pay

It’s common knowledge for entrepreneurs that you’ll probably lose money or at best break-even on the first five years of your business before you eventually start making money. If you’re starting a new business then you need to be in it for the long haul! If you want to make a profit in about a year or two then you need to create a powerful marketing plan that can penetrate the industry in a big way and earn you some much needed profits.

Sleep deprivation

Most people need at least 6 hours sleep, but as an entrepreneur, you may need to have a lot less. There will be a number of times when you’d have to sacrifice sleep so that you can look after your business properly. There will be some days when you need to stay up all night to work on urgent projects and there will be a number of nights when you’ll be lying awake thinking about your action plan the next day. When you start a new business – expect to sleep a lot less for the next couple of years!

On the brighter side of things, even though you need to make these sacrifices don’t be discouraged though, you’ve got to start somewhere to get somewhere right? Look at these sacrifices as a form of investment. Just sacrifice for now but as long as you stay committed to the overall picture then you’ll eventually reap the rewards.