5 myths about starting a small business

Many people have the dream of starting their own business but don’t realise or understand the harsh realities that come with becoming an entrepreneur. There are plenty of myths that people tend to believe in but aren't realistic or true.

In this blog post, we will be talking about 5 common myths about starting a small business.

You are born an entrepreneur, or you’re not

You may hear this often, but there is never just one type of person that can succeed at entrepreneurship. All kinds of people can run a successful business; it just may take you longer to find that industry or type of business that works for you and nobody else.

You either work 24/7 or fewer hours than normal

Being a business owner doesn’t mean that you have to work all of the time or hardly work at all. You may find that you will work a lot harder but with the help of your staff, if you can trust them to run the show then don’t feel bad for taking some hours or days off.

You can’t overwork yourself or work round the clock every day, but as for being able to work fewer hours, you need to put your time and energy into your business. You do need to be invested within your company, especially if you have a goal and see where you want the brand to be in the future.

The hours you work don’t always show how much quality you’re adding to the business so rather than focusing on the number of hours you’ve worked, focus on what you’ve achieved instead.

If you take significant risks, you can receive a big reward

This is a popular misconception, but it’s not always true that you reach success by taking big risks. You have to work hard to gain any reward within your business.

Successful entrepreneurs can reduce/manage risks well to avoid any failure, so taking big risks should not be your first thought. Rather, taking smart calculated risks.

If you build, they will come

Just because you’ve set up a business doesn’t mean that you will have customers/clients running to you. Just because you’ve created a business that focuses on something new, better or even cheaper doesn’t mean that people will know about it straight away and shop with you.

When starting a small business, you need to market and sell your product or service as this is important for getting your brand seen by an audience.

Success is about making money

We all know that money is important within the business, but it shouldn’t be the focal point. If a small business only focuses on getting rich and not about the quality that’s being added to the company, then it’ll be more difficult to achieve what they want.

Value is the most important part of running a business; if you focus on adding value where possible, then the financial rewards will come along.