Monique Andrews shares a guest blog highlighting a few things she’s discovered in her first year of entrepreneurship.

Wow, you’ve decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship. It’s great right? You’re so happy to start this journey to the new and improved you, with a new title: BOSS! How exciting! Wrong! (Well, sort of.)

Don’t get me wrong, becoming an entrepreneur is exciting, super exciting to say the least. For one, you can quit that job you absolutely hated. You could never see that place another day in your life and it would be too soon. Trust me, I get it. Just know that the road to successful entrepreneurship will be a long one and I’m here to help with a few things I wish I knew before I started this journey.

Ain’t no free time sis. Freedom is hardly free.

Before I quit my job as a sales consultant, I was completely against becoming an entrepreneur because I knew all the work that went into it. There are no “off” days. I always thought it was funny how people bragged about the freedom of entrepreneurship like it was such an amazing thing.

Now that I am an entrepreneur, I realized that I was right. Some days you’re free, but sometimes those free days come with the guilt of knowing you should be working. On one hand, the freedom feels great, but it can also be stressful.

There are no paid vacation and sick days, so being an entrepreneur is more like a job with no vacation or PTO. And until your business is bringing in money consistently without you actively working, when you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

Now don’t get me wrong. I can schedule my days the way I want. For example, most days I wake up with no alarm. I have lunch with my friends whenever I want. And I don’t have to check with my “boss” to see if I can go out of the country on vacation. But the freedom thing is kind of a gimmick, in my opinion.

You don’t have to beg people to support you (or you shouldn’t have to).

You know people do not have to support you, right? So, don’t expect automatic support from all your friends and family and certainly don’t beg for support.

A lot of people launch businesses assuming the world owes support and appreciation and that’s simply not the case. Some people will not cheer for you, and that’s ok, even if it is your best friend, your cousin, or your significant other.

Walking in your purpose and do it for you. Cheer for yourself, but also make sure you have a marketing strategy in place. That’s how you reach more people, whether it’s your friends, family or strangers. Keep offering your best and the support will come naturally. That’s the best kind of all.

Walking in your purpose will always pave the way.

Have you ever heard someone say something like “Oh, my homeboy owns a business like this, and he makes this much money, so I know if I do it, I’ll make that much money too?” Or “I’ve seen so-and-so make six figure sales on Instagram. I can post some bomb pictures and do numbers just like that.”

If you’ve been guilty of this kind of thinking, stop. You cannot walk in someone else’s purpose! That is simply not the way to build a successful business around what’s meant for you.

We must remember that God put us here for our own purpose. There’s a reason you like the things you like, that you’re good at what you’re good at. It’s because He made you that way, and He expects you to use your gifts in this world. Once you start walking in YOUR purpose, He will provide the rest. He gave you those gifts, now use them!

You’re going to need help.

Unfortunately, we’ve become a society that too often has the “I can do everything by myself” mentality. When it comes to entrepreneurship, that’s not a winning motto to live by. You’re going to need people. You just have to make sure they are the right people.

Building a team of like-minded individuals who understand the different aspects of your business can help you when you need brainstorming, when you need to get more done in less time, and when you need to level up beyond what you can handle alone.

It’s ok to start out doing what you can on your own, but don’t be so arrogant that you can’t reach out to collaborate and combine efforts whenever it’s beneficial.

Be yourself. You can have fun and be professional.

Last but certainly not least, it’s ok to have fun with your business. You didn’t start your business to be boring, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! If God leads you to it, He will lead you to doing it the way that you want. People can spot a fake from a mile away, so let your customers know you’re genuine.

Even if there are a million people doing what you do, there’s always a way to separate yourself. Show your true, genuine, self, and your customers will keep coming back time and time again!