What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur

When I started making a living online 2.5 years ago I was making some good money each and every month.

For someone who was just starting out, I was regularly having months of $12,000+ profit and working about 7-8 hours per week (yes per week).  For a 22 year old kid, fresh out of college this was like hitting the lottery.

But looking back now, I realize just how naive I was…

When I started out I had an income source, not a business.  I exposed a flaw in the search engines, and was raking it in solely from a mistake that Google hadn’t fixed yet.  Looking back now, my biggest mistake was not scaling the operations and milking the situation for all it was worth.  I sat by and was content with the money I was making – not knowing it was all going to come crashing down in a few months.

After everything crashed, and I had my income source taken away I was scrambling to find a new way to make money online.  As much as it sucked to have my income source taken away, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.  Back then I had no work ethic, and no idea of how a real online business worked.  I had no assets in my business (like an email list), and everything could have just been taken away at a moment’s notice (like it was).   Since then I’ve come a long way in my business knowledge and work ethic due to reading a ton of books and by seeking the advice of people who were already successful in the online business…

I’ve had numerous setbacks and triumps in the past year or so.  I sold a blog that was only 7 months old for $40,000.  I also jumped into a new industry only to realize I didn’t “know it all” and I had a ton to learn.  It’s been a long, slow ride to get in a good spot to succeed with our fitness site.

But part of being a good entrepreneur is going through the tough times.  It’s similar to being an athlete.  The best athletes in the world aren’t the best because of their talent…. They’re the best because they never quit, and they always want to better themselves. They take their lumps each and every year, and only the strong willed that truly have a desire to succeed will stay at the top.

I’m reminded of this all the time as an entrepreneur and recently I’ve seen my girlfriend go through a similar tough time trying to start her own business as a freelance photographer.  People are going to cut you down, insult you, call you an idiot and question everything you do.  A lot of people who work regular jobs, are secretly unhappy and would rather see you fail and be miserable just like them.  And some of your biggest problems will come from the people who you’d expect the most support from… your family and friends.  Most of them can’t see you as anything more than what you are right now, so they try to keep you at the level you’re at.  Jealousy definitely plays a factor in this, as deep down they don’t want you to be more successful than them.

If you’re running your own business be prepared to take some lumps and be prepared for the unexpected to happen.  I’m not making as much money as I’d like right now, but I think I’m in a great position to have my best year ever in 2010.  We have our fitness product finally done, and we’re getting ready to jump into PPC and start promoting this baby.  I’m sure we’ll go through some tough times, and hit a few dips, but I also have grown a lot in the past year, and literally know about 50x more about business than I did even a year ago.  I’m a better marketer, copywriter and I understand the web a lot better.

As Dan Kennedy says, most entrepreneurs that continue busting their ass usually experience “the phenomenon”.  This is when you attract more wealth in a 6 month span than in the previous 6 years (or something similar).

I feel a phenomenon coming for me soon.  And so should you if you’re determined to grind it out and stick with it.

- Justin