Hard work with no vacation or sick time and no pay. This is your reality while getting your small business started.
You will work harder than in any corporate job, says Jeff Lovejoy, a business coach with ActionCoach of Atlanta.
"Don't go into starting a business thinking it's a 40-hour-a-week job. Think twice that amount," Lovejoy says.
This relentless work with little payback may come as a shock to those who work for a company. But to survive, you need to keep going and ride out the emotional and financial roller coaster of the first year or two, says Glen Gould, an author and business trainer from Atlanta, who has owned, operated and sold 12 companies.
"Failure is not an option for you," Gould says.
What gets entrepreneurs through these initial few months or years of a startup is not only dogged determination but passion, Gould says. But make sure you check that passion at the door when making hard business decisions. "Often, businesses are started out of passion and they succeed. But often they don't because passion clouds judgment," he says.