An entrepreneur’s frugal lifestyle choice almost always comes out of necessity. To survive. Because many of them choose to allocate their financial resources to their business instead of a house mortgage. This means they have to be extra careful with the money.
Life would be easier if everyone chooses to pay a house mortgage and work a 9-5 job with a fixed, regular salary.
But the question is, will you feel content with not using your business skills – for the rest of your productive age? Will you feel content starting a new business at 60 years old (if you’re still alive)?
Many people would think that entrepreneur’s lifestyle (especially the startups) is ‘wrong’ because they put all eggs in one basket. But the truth is, everything is right and everything is wrong. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. Depends on how you see it.
Some people are comfortable working with a regular salary, keep saving, and have a safe retirement. This can mean they have to live a frugal lifestyle from now to eternity. And nothing’s wrong with that.
However, many entrepreneurs are not comfortable with the above idea for two reasons.
One, they want to use their business skills to develop their own business, and not someone else’ business even though it’s not impossible that they may have to go back to a 9-5 job if they can’t make it. And should they go back to work for someone else, they’d usually use it to gain more experience to prepare for the next venture.
Many startups take a huge risk and feel anxious, but still stay. Maybe it’s because they realise that time is much more valuable than money. Which means, if they don’t do it now when they’re still relatively young, their older version might regret it and there’s nothing worse living with regret.
The second reason is that many people would love to have more money, namely travelling around the world and staying at 4 or 5-star hotels, cruise holidays, all the expensive sports like paragliding, kite-boarding, snowboarding, etc. And many of them also want to help other people achieving their dreams. Making the world a better place. There are many things to do with money.
Three Types of Entrepreneurs
There are three types of entrepreneurs: a wannabe entrepreneur, a still-working-on-it entrepreneur, and a successful entrepreneur.
Wannabe Entrepreneur
This type of entrepreneur is still an entrepreneur. They have one or many ideas in mind, fantasising their business and even the smallest thing like how they organise their inventory and payment method. But nothing is done yet due to various reasons, from emotional readiness to financial issues.
Still-Working-On-It Entrepreneur
This is the type of people who already dive into the world of entrepreneurship. They have tried (and probably failed and now tried again) to establish a business that they hope will make enough money to make more businesses, investments, and/or simply to have enough money for a comfortable retirement. But the business hasn’t generated as much money as expected.
Successful Entrepreneur
Successful entrepreneurs are those who have established one or more businesses with systems that generate more money than originally expected despite the entrepreneur’s physical presence.
According to Tim Ferris in his book, The 4-Hour-Work Week the best one is those who only work once or twice a week instead of 5 or even 7 days a week.
However, instead of getting stuck with the idea of spending less time in the ‘business’, I think you should focus more on your passion.
The purpose of entrepreneurship should be following and developing your passion, like what Robert Greene wrote in his book, Mastery. Therefore, you should enjoy the process enough to blur the distinction between work and not work.
The Risks of Trying to Become a Successful Entrepreneur
I was thinking to write the benefits first but I think, like anything in life, we should know the risk first instead of naively focusing on the benefits, ignoring the risks, and suddenly experiencing severe depression as a result of failed anticipation.
The Most Common Risks of Being an Entrepreneur Are:
Financial Risk
You need to be prepared with being extra careful with managing your money. For this, you may want to adopt an extreme frugal lifestyle and stick to it. Here are 6 tips on how to stay dedicated to a no-spend commitment.
Emotional Risk
Should the business fail or potentially fail, you need to let go, either by starting a new one, or get a temporary job to pay bills if you run out of money. Letting go of a business can be as emotional as letting go of a lover. You’ll need to prepare your emotional state accordingly. Knowing that the outcome can be good or bad and not get too attached to it, helps. Mindfulness practice also helps.
The Benefits of Being a Successful Entrepreneur
More Contentment
Most people who are successful entrepreneurs are content people. Those who are not content, are usually those who haven’t used their true potential. Usually those who haven’t used their true potential are those who start entrepreneurship for the wrong reasons, including following the trend, having a kick of being a rebel of not following the 9 to 5 job, or wanting a lot of money just to show off to their friends and families.
More Time
When you have successfully established your business that generates money without your presence, you have more time to pursue other things in life, like taking care of your family, learning new lessons, socialising, or simply more time to enjoy other leisure activities.
More Money
More money means more business opportunities to explore, more people to employ (and thus, help with the overall economy), and more things to do and see. We should not be ashamed of wanting to have more money. Let’s not agree that wanting more money equals being greedy. Sometimes, some of us have the brain to make more money and this should be used to enhance not only the quality of our life, but also the quality of others’ life, making the world a better place to live.
What About You?
Do you consider yourself as a wannabe, a still-working-on-it, or successful entrepreneur? What are you feeling at the moment? Share your thoughts and experience in the comment box below.
