Entrepreneurial pressure creates stress
As an entrepreneur, I found it easy to move from one project or problem to another while keeping the right tune. However, I felt excessive pressure when I had to manage the details. Each role requires different music.
This caused me and others to carefully analyse the workload involved before committing to managing the details. Entrepreneurs find extraordinary things in places other people never think to look.
See a Case Study by Peter Sergeant in the Knowledge Base.
Entrepreneurial pressure emerges when you have to start managing.
One lesson I learned the hard way was how entrepreneurial pressure impacts outcomes. Often, after becoming involved with a new company or a new project, I started to struggle. Moving from being an entrepreneur to managing the details is difficult.
No sooner had I set the direction when difficulties started to occur. I often became bogged down in administrative tasks and could not keep the business or project moving forward. While I could handle the administrative tasks of the day-to-day operations, I became uneasy because I knew there was more to be done to consolidate the future and stay ahead of the game. The truth is, I become bored doing the same tasks repeatedly. I like to do what entrepreneurs do best.
I spent considerable time empowering some people, only to have the relationship fall apart as their confidence grew. Sometimes, I even guarantee people’s bank accounts, only to get their egos in the way as they emerge from the mire. You question whether people want your entrepreneurial skills in the first place. If you don’t wish to feel torturous pressure, be very careful about the projects you take on and the personalities involved.
Moving from entrepreneur to manager.
Without the luxury of a lot of time and a pot of money behind you, the entrepreneur often needs to be a chief cook and bottle washer. They quickly become skilled at ‘everything’. In the early days, you will not have the luxury of outsourcing and must be very careful regarding time management.
There are not enough hours in an entrepreneur’s day. An 80-hour week, to me, was quite normal. I worked when work was to be done, not according to the clock. Entrepreneurs make things happen, but if they can’t, they put themselves under pressure until they can.
Your time is worth more than money. This can be frustrating when you devote much more time to operations than entrepreneurial tasks. If others are funding you, it is often difficult for them to understand that entrepreneurial tasks need to be performed and outcomes need to mature.
As soon as a situation becomes stable, people suddenly believe they know what to do to obtain a successful outcome. They fail to realise that the entrepreneur’s job has not been completed until the situation is managed correctly daily.
Many people fail to give entrepreneurs a clear path to completion. Everyone has a role to play, and I believe that failing to appreciate the entrepreneur’s role is at the heart of business and project failure.
What creates entrepreneurial pressure?
Entrepreneurial pressure is real and should not be ignored. Entrepreneurs frequently struggle with excessive pressure, which can be challenging to escape. Stress is a regular part of life, but shouldn’t consume your life. When stress becomes a chronic problem, it’s time to do something about it. It would be best to learn how to deal with it so that we can move on.
Entrepreneurial pressure can be relieved by understanding entrepreneurial characteristics and how they impact you.
Quotable quotes
“The best way to avoid entrepreneurial pressure is to keep creating new and exciting things, solving problems and making decisions”. Peter Sergeant
“My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long university education that I never had; every day, I’m learning something new”. Richard Branson