Here Is Why You SHOULD NOT Become An Entrepreneur

The other day I received an email from depressed job seeker who has been an entrepreneur since he graduated but failed terribly at it and now wants to go back to the job market. For most people becoming an entrepreneur is all about being your own boss but they never stop to think beyond that.

For most of us entrepreneurship is the only way of escaping horrible bosses and becoming independent. The whole point is to not work under someone. Ask any young person who has gone into entrepreneurship and the story is always the same, “I also want to make my own money like my boss. I don’t want to be doing all the work to enrich someone else.”

This begs the question. Is entrepreneurship really an answer to all the problems you are having with your employer.

What if you looked for a new job? Would that solve the mystery? So in as much as we all want to work for ourselves one day, allow me to bust your bubble just this once and tell you the truth as it is on why you should not become an entrepreneur.

Related: 5 Things To Know About Starting A Business In Your 20s 

1. If you don’t know how to handle excitement and frustrations

Trust me on this; entrepreneurship comes with lots of excitement and frustration. So if you are not wired to handle this, then it’s not time to quit your job yet. Being an entrepreneur comes with an outburst of various emotions when the idea you thought so much about turns out to be a total disaster.

If you are the person who breaks down because of too many emotions, then stick to your day job. Entrepreneurship is not your thing – at least not yet.

2. Don’t become an entrepreneur if learning is not your thing

What do great entrepreneur like Chris Kirubi, Equity Bank’s James Mwangi and the likes have in common? They never stop learning. So if you are the kind of person who can’t go online to read an article on a blog or sit down with a book, then you are likely to fail terribly in business.

Good entrepreneurs never rest. They are constantly reading and gaining more knowledge in their industry. They are constant visitors to bookshops purchasing books that will help them understand their businesses better.

I remember watching the documentary “Donald Trump; The All American Billionaire” (which by the way you should check out) and the now POTUS was talking about how he only sleeps for three hours at most. Most of the other time, he spends enriching his mind with new knowledge. And his effort has translated into his success in business as he remains one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.

3. If you are not good at taking risks

This is the whole point of becoming an entrepreneur. It means taking that risk and investing your money into something you believe will be profitable. If you are the kind of person who often sees failure, then you will not become a good entrepreneur.

Look at Chris Kirubi for instance. He is a good entrepreneur because unlike many, he knows how to take risks. When he was starting out, he decided to venture into a field that most people were afraid to tread. Real estate!

He bought his first unit of old buildings, renovated them, all this time hoping that his investment won’t fail and sold them at a profit. That was his breakthrough and we can all agree that he has been a part of transforming real estate into what it is today.

Related: 8 Tell Tale Signs That You Were Meant To Be An Entrepreneur 

4. Being an entrepreneur is about leading

Have you ever assumed a leadership role before? Let’s take a situation of your work place. What do you do when something is not working? Do you hide in a corner and expect others to come up with a solution or do you become a leader and show others what to do.

You can’t become an entrepreneur if you don’t know how to lead.

So until you learn how to, please stick to your job at the moment for the sake of humanity.

5. You have to keep fighting constantly

Forget about what your mother told you when you were growing up about seeing the good in everyone. Well the world is not made up of angels as you may think. In business you will meet all kinds of people, most of them out to get you and see you fail. You will have companies that are led by people who have now idea what ethics mean. All they care about is making money and it doesn’t matter if they do that at your expense.

In short, entrepreneurship is not a world for the soft hearted. You have to toughen up if you are to remain relevant. So unless you know how to push others out of your way to emerge the best, stick to what you are doing now.

Entrepreneurship is not a bed of roses as most of us think. It’s not all about investing and getting returns. It’s neither about being your own boss. It’s a tough wacky world and if you are not built for that, you are likely to fail within the first year.

Related: Top 5 Branding Mistakes That Kill Small Businesses In Kenya

Lilian Wamaitha is a Communications & Digital Marketing Officer at Career Point Kenya. Contact her via lilian@www.careerpointkenya.co.ke. Click here to like us on Facebook.