I have worked for companies, managed companies for others and started my own companies. While I was an employee, I did not care about the bottom line or profit margins. As a manager I cared about the bottom line and profit margins only as it pertained to my job and my salary. As a business owner the bottom line and  profit margins are the difference between whether I eat and have a roof over my head or don’t. 

I have never really considered myself a “business woman”. I have always considered myself an entrepreneur. The definition for a businesswoman (yes it’s in the dictionary) is: A woman engaged in business. A person engaged in commercial or industrial business. Whereas the definition for an entrepreneur is: A risk-taker who has the skills and initiative to establish a business. A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.

As you can see there is a major difference between a businessperson and an entrepreneur just in the definition. I applaud anyone who makes the effort to make something out of their life either by running a business for someone else or for themselves. But sometimes it’s hard to transform a “business person” into an “entrepreneur” because some business people have what I call the employee mentality. The employee mentality is simply when a person wants to start a business but may be too use to having a structured environment where they have others who will take on projects or “step in” when something needs to be done.

When you are trying to become an entrepreneur the problem is in most cases is there is no one who can step in for you. You only have yourself to count on. Often, when people go into business for themselves after being in corporate America running someone else’s business for years they fail. Why? Not because they don’t know how to run A business but because they do not know how to run THEIR OWN business. There are certain things that you will learn in corporate America that will most definitely apply to owning a business of your own but it’s hard to get people to understand that there are so many things that you have not learned that you will need to learn and quick.

I think as people we are creatures of habit. We get so use to doing things a certain way and get so comfortable that we are resistant to change. If you are looking to start your own business after years of being an employee for someone else, you will need to retrain you mind. You have to teach yourself to use what you have to make it work and learn whatever skills you are lacking along the way. You’ll need to remind yourself that you will have to take risk. Some will be calculated, some will not. The important thing is that you continue to retrain your mind so to know that it will require countless hours of sacrifice from you to make it work. I don’t know of many entrepreneurs who are just staring out who work 9-5, 5 days a week and take 2 weeks of vacation a year. They have no sick days, no holidays or even days for bereavement. These are just a few of many sacrifices that you’ll have to make but the list is endless!

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I disagree. I think that if someone wants something bad enough then they will open there mind to new options and possibilities. I wish you much success on your endeavors.

To Your Success!