I think every career oriented person secretly nurtures the dream to run a company and given a chance would prefer to be their own boss.
The dictionary definition of the term 'entrepreneur' is 'a person which runs a small business and assumes the risk and rewards that come from it'.
Yes, we all know that when a business is successful there are the rewards in terms of profit, recognition, appreciation, the sense of achievement, etc. but, the most important thing to keep in mind when one decides to undertake this journey alone is the risk factor which goes along with it and in fact it this risk factor is something the entrepreneur has to deal on a daily basis .
If you are the kind of person who wants to be ensured of a paycheck at the end of every month and prefer the security and perks that a 9 to 5 job offers with regular week-ends and holidays then trust me being an entrepreneur and running a one person company is not your cup of tea.
As people who have the responsibility of running a business on their shoulders have to go without having any monetary return many times especially when you just start your business or launch a new product by ploughing back the amount you just earned from the last deal in the business. On the other side once the business gets established successfully you can reap good rewards.
Once you decide to call yourself an entrepreneur, identify something that you have a passion for and contemplate if you would like to work on it day in and day out without getting bored and most important would you enjoy working on it. If yes then you have got an idea start funding the project and be prepared to work hard.
Initially at the time of start up the first and foremost objective is to gain as much as market reach as possible with the lowest possible cost of operation. All this is possible if you have a website of your company which has a presence on the search engines for the relevant keywords. As nowadays people find your company reference through the search engines more than the yellow pages or any other media.
Trust me initially people will doubt what you say till you prove it by achieving the results. The real challenge will be to get the first few projects as you will not have any testimonials, references or examples of work to show but after that if one keeps moving ahead with sincerity then there is no looking back .
If you are sincere, honest, hard-working, responsible and committed to your venture then surely it is not you who has to run after success but success runs after you. Again, success is a very relative term. Decide what success means to you and measure your growth in terms of success accordingly.
Yes, all this is easier said than done but for any kind of business having the patience and perseverance is very essential because there will be times when you cannot see the road ahead and cannot identify why things are not picking up but it takes time to establish the goodwill and prove yourself.
As Theodore Isaac Rubin has rightly said:
Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.