FREE Jen and Elke’s “101 Zazzle Christmas and Holiday Design Trends” Guide

being an entrepreneur
being an entrepreneur

Things They Don't Tell You About What Can Hold You Back From Being An Entrepreneur

In today’s post, we’re talking about all of the things they don’t tell you that can hold you back from being an entrepreneur. It’s exciting to get a new idea for a business, but once you start designing your business, roadblocks of all kinds can begin popping up and hindering your ability to start earning, which can quickly lead you to becoming discouraged and possibly giving up. 

They don’t always teach you about the mental and logistical issues that can occur when you are considering entrepreneurship.  We’ll let you in on a little secret though; it’s the hardest thing that our clients work through while creating their businesses.

We’re going to talk about our histories, and show you how we overcame the obstacles that no one tells you about that can stop you from building a successful business. 

being an entrepreneur

Education “requirements” and the corporate world

Society loves to push the narrative that in order to earn money, you need a certain level of degree or a certain type of job. It makes sense why older generations might offer this as advice. They want younger generations to have better opportunities than they did. Elke was always frustrated that her parents told her that she needed to be a doctor or a lawyer, or she wouldn’t be successful. 

While these are great jobs if it’s what you’re interested in doing, they aren’t the only option for success. Now, younger generations are much more likely to accept that entrepreneurship is a valid career choice. It’s possible that you’re holding on to a belief that you have to be a certain type of successful in order for it to work. But you don’t. In fact, this belief itself may be holding you back. Believing that it is possible for you to become an entrepreneur and create a profitable business online is part of the battle. 

Being an entrepreneur isn’t a “thing”

Even at business school, you’re trained to work for someone else. Being an entrepreneur is usually viewed as a risk, and many people don’t even consider the possibility of being their own boss. The mentality is that you can’t be an entrepreneur if you don’t have the proper business degree.

While having some training and coaching along the way will help speed up your achieving your goal, you don’t need a business degree or college or university degree to be a successful entrepreneur. The barriers today to starting your own business are far less than they used to be. The reality is, your success depends on your passion, willingness to learn, and taking action.

Engage, LEARN, IMPLEMENT

Hours worked do not equal dollars earned

A lot of us have been conditioned to go into work at 9 o’clock and leave at 5 o’clock. You either have an hourly wage or a monthly salary. You become used to the idea that if you put in a certain amount of hours you will be paid a certain amount of money. 

Being an entrepreneur is different in that there are no income caps or time constraints. You can build your business so that you earn the money you want to earn.

Many of our clients are surprised to find that the work they put into their online business snowballs and has a ripple effect. For example, we have products that we designed 15 years ago that still sell today. That means we worked once and have benefited from sales from our work for over 15 years. That also means that if you want, you can put in extra time to keep building your business and continue to increase your income. This works in our business model because, when we do the work once – designing and putting a product up online for sale and that product sells year after year with no extra work to sell it – we can benefit from it over and over again and have time to do additional new work that will add to our overall business inventory of money makers.

being an entrepreneur
how to start selling on Zazzle

Having the confidence to build a business

It’s easy to get frustrated early on in your process. A lot of people start their business and don’t make as much money as they were anticipating. They immediately panic, and decide to quit. Before they became our coaching clients, people took one specific action, did not see the results they wanted right away and got frustrated. 

It’s a very natural reaction to back away or feel defeated. That will hold you back. It doesn’t mean that you are not doing the right thing. It just means that you have to do something differently or follow a different strategy. 

Being an entrepreneur requires you to own your outcome, and make the decisions and take action steps that will get you what you want.

Things They Don't Tell You About What Can Hold You Back From Being An Entrepreneur: The Bottomline

being an entrepreneur

It’s easy to let mindset roadblocks get in your way of designing a business that you love and being your own boss. Don’t let these barriers stop you from being the best entrepreneur you can be. 

To hear the full episode and all the tips we have for you, tune into episode 60 of The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast: Things They Don’t Tell You About What Can Hold You Back From Being An Entrepreneur.

Thank you so much for listening to The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur Podcast! 

Be part of our community where we can continue the conversation on these topics and tools. Join our Facebook group!

We love it when we make new friends. Connect with us on Instagram, @msjenclarke, and @elkeclarke.

We appreciate you and thank you for your review, rating, and becoming a subscriber.

Share on IG. Tag us @msjenclarke and @elkeclarke, so we can send some love to you and get to know you.

See you back here next week!

About your hosts

Jen and Elke Clarke are a mother-daughter duo that empowers women entrepreneurs to make money online. Through courses and coaching, Jen and Elke help women (and men) become successful creative entrepreneurs on Zazzle and e-commerce. Combined Jen and Elke have sold over 15 million dollars-worth of products, and earned over $1.5 million combined through their businesses on Zazzle. Jen and Elke have influenced and transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with their free content, paid and private coaching.

They are international, award-winning authors. Click the links to purchase their books through Amazon: Earn Around The World and Create Online and Grow Rich.

Jen and Elke Clarke have been featured in Yahoo Finance as TOP 5 e-commerce coaches.

FEATURED ON