Expert Guest: Chris Ducker (ChrisDucker.com) Key Learning Point: In this session, you will learn if this entrepreneurial life is really for you - the reality of living the life. Free Resource: The 14 Day Guide to Cutting Your Working Hours & Increasing your Impact When thinking about the life of an entrepreneur, it’s natural to focus on the positives – creating and growing a business you really care about, serving customers and the community and making all of the decisions yourself. As great as all of those are, there are also less positive, and downright negative, aspects of going it alone and starting your own business. Is it really the life for you? Chris Ducker joins us to share his story of building his businesses as well as the reality of living the life of an entrepreneur. Chris has built several extremely successful companies but he has also experienced one of the most common health issues for entrepreneurs – burnout. When it is only us steering the ship, superhero syndrome can set in. We feel that we must take care of every little detail and decision in order to make or business succeed. This can lead to working far too hard and far too long each day. The cumulative fatigue can take a horrible toll on both health and relationships. This situation can be exacerbated if outside investors are involved. The high standards set by our ego can be elevated even higher by the level of expectation of others. It can be a recipe for disaster. Identifying which areas of the business need your full attention and which tasks can be delegated is a good way of alleviating a great deal of pressure. If your business grows as you would like it to, there will come a day when delegation is necessary. It is better to learn this earlier in your entrepreneurial journey, than after a burning out completely! Surrounding yourself with the right people will help enormously with reducing some of the difficulties that come with running your own business. Expand your network as much as possible when starting your business. Doing so will help you make the right type of friendships and find the right kind of opportunities. Meeting and spending time with other entrepreneurs in the community is so important. You can share experiences and information that will help you succeed as well as developing great friendships. In this lifestyle, you will lose the wrong kind of friends. Those who might doubt you or hold you back, those who don’t agree with your dreams or those who don’t use their time well. In order to succeed, you need to believe in yourself and erase any self-doubt that you might have. It comes to all of us at one point or another, but learn not to dwell on it. Focusing on your past achievements is a good way to dispel negative thoughts. Don’t worry what others think; if you are passionate about creating your business and prepared to put in the work, then go for it. The entrepreneurial life is not for the faint-hearted. It can get tough and it requires a lot of hard work. The main issue with a lot of those who start businesses, particularly those who have other work or are ‘sidepreneurs’, is a lack of focus or casting too wide a net. Before getting started, think deeply about how much time and energy you can devote to your business and a very specific problem that you want to solve. If you have thought long and hard, considered the negative as well as the positives, and just have to scratch that itch, then the life of an entrepreneur may well be for you. Be prepared to work hard, surround yourself with the right people and le...