On Being a Wantrepreneur

July 24, 2014

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Just the thought of being my own boss while having a chic home office makes me swoon. Having a more flexible schedule with the time to travel would also be a huge plus, but there’s a lot more to entrepreneurship than that.

As many of you may remember, I was planning to offer strategic branding services this summer and was on cloud nine thinking about it. I had the documents, visuals, pricing, everything in place, but something was off.

Naturally, this troubled me. Becoming a freelance brand stylist was what I had wanted, so why didn’t it feel right? During the planning stage, I was juggling full-time college courses, a part-time job, and growing a blog from the ground up while trying my hardest to fit in some “me” time. At the time, I amounted the stress and doubt to bad timing, but I think it was more than that.

I’ve realized I have the creative process behind running a business down, but the financial and business side – that’s a different story. The taxes, the contract writing, the administrative duties – all of it scared me. I wasn’t ready to wear those different hats yet but knew if I was willing to learn, someday I would be ready.

I now work at an online marketing startup that has allowed me to grow in my analytical skills. I’m getting a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a business from pro entrepreneurs before I take the plunge. For me, it’s been priceless.

Now, I have even more respect for entrepreneurs, especially those who are full-time. The ones who put in 80 hours so they don’t have to work 40 on someone else’s clock. Entrepreneurs will continue to inspire me greatly and I hope to join them as one in the future, but until then, I’ll be happy where I’m at.