Five things you lose when you become an entrepreneur

Are you thinking of going solo and starting your own business? You have your reasons. Maybe you've been furloughed or laid off. Or maybe you're just done working for someone else and want to go after your own dreams.

Well, as sexy as entrepreneurship sounds, the jump from employee to entrepreneur can be quite significant, especially in the area of mindset. Putting yourself out there and marketing your own products and services takes guts.

People often talk about all the things you gain by becoming an entrepreneur. Well, I want to share with you the five things you lose from doing it. Hopefully it will help you prepare for your transition.

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1. You lose your specialism and become a generalist

In your corporate job, you are probably focusing on one department. Unless you're a general manager, your job typically fits into one of the four key functions of any business: marketing, operations, finance or HR.

But as a business owner, you need to become a generalist. Although you can outsource or delegate, you still need to understand how the four functions work. This can be an enriching experience for many people. So embrace it. It will help you become a better person.

2. You lose your excuses

When you're working in a larger organisation, you have lots of colleagues doing different things in different departments. You perhaps are only a small cog in a big machine. So if things go wrong, there are many other people who you can blame.

Not that I'm saying you're a blamer, but it's easy to find excuses and reasons when results are not achieved. When you're your own boss, the buck stops with you.

Even during tough times, it is still on you to make your business work. There's no one else to blame. Are you ready to take full ownership and accountability for your results?

3. You lose your boss

Again, when you're working for someone else, they may have some control over the use of your time. They call you for meetings, they ask you to do things.

As an entrepreneur, you have 100% control of how you allocate your time. You can no longer say, "I don't have time." Because you're in full control of your time, you will need to 'make' time if the task is truly important to you. You're the boss!

4. You lose your 'follower' badge

As an employee, you follow the company's vision and its values. You are hardly asked what your personal dreams and goals are. You work for the company.

As a business owner, you set your company vision by understanding your own personal dreams and what you're trying to build. You set the goals. You set the direction.

And your company values will reflect your own personal principles. Therefore, self-awareness is key if you want to be an effective business owner. By setting up your company to reflect your essence, you are setting yourself up for personal fulfilment.

5. You lose your scarcity mindset

Corporate motivates you by comparing yourself to others. You win awards because you're better than others, or you don't win because someone is better than you. There's only one award so there can only be one winner, and you're competing for that one award. A good example of the scarcity mindset - excellence is limited so fight for it.

But in the real world, that is, when you own your own business, it's often frustrating to compare yourself with others. In fact, that can only delay your results.

Of course, you do market research, but in the end, you just need to find your authentic voice, your way of doing things and your uniqueness. And excellence is not limited; there's often enough business for everyone, and there's a way to innovate and create new opportunities and new markets.

So instead of thinking in scarcity, you're going to succeed by thinking in abundance.  So how will you stop comparing yourself to others and realise that there is room for everybody to win?

We've talked about the five things you will lose when you go into entrepreneurship. From personal experience, I have been quite happy to lose them. I hope you will feel the same.

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