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  • These are the heroes and demigods of modern capitalist mythology.

  • We tell and retell their biographies while venerating their awe-inspiring works.

  • If there is such a thing aswinningthe game of life, most people would say this is it.

  • Our media is fairly obsessed with entrepreneurs, whether it's Shark Tank inventors, celebrity

  • restaurateurs, march-hawking bloggers, or makeup tutorial moguls.

  • We're bombarded with messages that suggests that entrepreneurship is the only path to

  • real wealth and fulfillment.

  • Everyone feels the pressure to quit the day-job, reach for the stars, and be your own boss!

  • But as any successful entrepreneur will tell you, it's not for everyone.

  • The autonomy and independence can be fulfilling, but you'll probably be working longer hours

  • for less moneyat least at first.

  • And having a great product idea or visionary artistic talent is just one small element.

  • Whether you want to be a freelance graphic designer, an Instagram influencer, or the

  • inventor of a squirrel-shocking bird-feeder (oh it's a thinglook it up), most of

  • your time will be taken up with new tasks and duties that you may or may not find enjoyable.

  • So before you quit your 9-to-5, let us show you some of the many hats you'll have to

  • wear if you want to be your own boss.

  • So, you think your cupcakes are the bomb and decided to start your own business?

  • Congratulations, you're not just a baker anymore.

  • Now you're a CFO!

  • Cash is the lifeblood of any business and no matter how much people like your product,

  • if you're not balancing revenue and expenses correctly, your biz will bleed out.

  • The two main skills a CFO needs are Budgeting and Accounting.

  • Budgeting is deciding how to spend your money to get the most bang for you bucks.

  • It means being realistic about what you have to work with, and eliminating waste wherever

  • possible.

  • If you've never kept a personal home budget you might want to start to get some practice.

  • Accounting is minding your business's financial records, which includes tracking your income

  • and costs, estimating your quarterly taxes, and maybe even payroll.

  • You'll probably have to learn an accounting program like Quickbooks, or maybe hire a bookkeeper

  • to lighten the load.

  • But most entrepreneurs will tell you that you'll always have to be involved.

  • No one will care about these numbers as much as you do.

  • In addition to being CFO, you are also now the head of your company's Human Resources

  • department.

  • That means you're in charge of hiring, firing, training, delegating tasks and responsibilities,

  • as well as figuring out payroll and benefits for your staff.

  • What's that?

  • You don't have a staff yet?

  • Yes, you do: yourself!

  • Leaving a salaried position means finding your own health insurance, selecting your

  • own retirement plan, and picking up the slack for payroll taxes that you used to split with

  • your employer.

  • When it is time to bring on employees, finding talented and dedicated peopleand keeping

  • them happyis essential.

  • Many entrepreneurs credit their success with being able to attract and retain employees

  • smarter than themselves.

  • There are lots of awesome books and podcasts on assembling and managing teams, and we'll

  • make sure to share our favorites in the doobleydoo.

  • As a supervisor, you're not just a manager of people, but also of time.

  • Time is money, as they say, and making sure that neither you nor your employees are wasting

  • it is crucial.

  • Our friend Chelsea over at The Financial Diet wanted to give her two cents on the biggest

  • lessons she's learned when it comes to managing time.

  • So here's what I did wrong when I first made the jump to being an entrepreneur.

  • I tried to force a "normal" schedule.

  • It made me feel like I was working harder if I forced myself to work into that 9-5 even if that wasn't

  • when I was getting my best work done.

  • I would save the "easy" little things for last because often when I didn't have a fixed timeline throught my

  • day that meant just pushing off the tasks that I didn't really want to do and felt like I could do later.

  • And the third thing I did wrong was forcing myself to have bigger chunks of "offline" time.

  • Essentially, taking weekends and vacations as the time when I would totally unplug.

  • And this is how I fixed them:

  • Instead of forcing myself to fit into a 9-5, I leaned into the times that I did my best work.

  • And in many cases, for me, being a night owl that meant getting work done at night when my brain was thinking

  • its best.

  • The fact that you're able to set your own schedule, as an entrepreneur or self-employed person, is something

  • you should take advantage of not fight.

  • Secondly, I started doing all those easy little things FIRST thing in the morning because I found that

  • when i got them right out of the way I felt accomplished and that sense of accomplishment snowballed

  • into being able to take care of bigger and bigger tasks. And plus all that little easy stuff didn't keep

  • falling to the bottom or get kicked down to the never slot on my to-do list.

  • And lastly, I started spacing out my offline time giving myself dedicated chunks, even throughout my day,

  • where I was away from my computer and specifically forcing myself not to work.

  • When you don't have dedicated work days and vacation days you can constantly be pressuring and guilting

  • yourself into getting more and more work done.

  • And ultimately that leaves you more drained and unproductive

  • So by dedicating those offline times throughout my day and throughout my week I was often feeling refreshed

  • and not like I had to force every minute into a work minute.

  • The next hat you'll wear is a big one: Marketing Director.

  • Attracting customers to your brand is an enormous job!

  • You've got to conduct market research, create & test advertising, design promotional materials,

  • manage social media accounts and more!

  • And no, a few random posts on Instagram aren't going to cut it.

  • Marketing is a complicated, multi-layered discipline that involves statistics, psychology

  • and art.

  • If you're lucky enough to afford it, you can hire a specialist to help you, though

  • many small business owners have to figure it out on their own at first.

  • Luckily, there are plenty of free resources, like this episode on Market Research we did

  • a few weeks ago!

  • For many new entrepreneurs, the hardest realization about marketing is that the job is never done!

  • Even if your product is a stone cold hit, you will always have to keep reminding people

  • about it!

  • Even Coca Cola still advertises.

  • Once your head of marketing has attracted a bunch of potential customers, it's time

  • for your Salesperson to seal the deal.

  • (That's you again.)

  • If marketing is your public image, sales is your personal relationships with customers.

  • Being a good salesperson doesn't come by intuition, but by honing and practicing skills,

  • like active listening or networking effectively in a room full of strangers.

  • You'll also need to learn how to roll with rejection without taking it personally, and

  • how to create a repeatable step by step process that nurtures potential customers all the

  • way from initial interest to the sale and beyond.

  • And finally there's —

  • wait…”finally!?”

  • There's so much more we haven't talked about!

  • There's logistics, customer service, legal!

  • Not to mention hard-to-nail downsoft skillslike keeping yourself motivated and dealing

  • with irregular income.

  • I know, I know, but while we don't want them to have rose-colored glasses, we don't

  • want to totally scare them off!

  • Honestly, so much of this can and will come with time and experience if you have the fortitude

  • and patience.

  • And if this doesn't sound like it's for you, that's okay!

  • For many people, having a solid day-job that they enjoy can be more fulfillingand less

  • stressfulthan wearing all these hats at once.

  • And that's our two cents!

  • Thanks to Chelsea for contributing to this episode.

  • For more fresh takes on personal finance you can subscribe to the Financial Diet on YouTube.

  • If you've started your own business what was the best piece of advice you received?

  • Be sure to share it with us in the comments.

These are the heroes and demigods of modern capitalist mythology.

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