For some entrepreneurs, becoming your own boss was easy. Maybe they came from the family of business owners or they never felt satisfied with working in a standard 9-5 job.
For others, the signs may not be so obvious, so “Are I ready to make a leap? Should I be my boss?” According to Olipop co-founder and CEO Ben Goodwin, there are signs with things to be careful about.
“If the excitement and fulfillment of your vision for what you want to do is stronger than fear and excuse,” says Goodwin.
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Goodwin struggled with physical and mental health as a teenager, when he was regularly consuming unhealthy foods and drinks. Turning to a healthier diet and lifestyle, he told Fortune in December 2023. Goodwin left the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2005, and 20 years later, he says he is still devoted to his mission to help people lead healthier lives, and he will make it to CNBC.
The journey was not linear. Goodwin’s first venture, the water kefir drink called Obi Probiotic Soda, launched in 2008, didn’t gain the traction he wanted despite eight years of business. He and his business partner David Lester sold the company for a private amount in 2016 and used the money to get Olipop off the ground. The company generated gross revenue of $852,000 in the first year of the business, valued at $1,850 million in February.
Goodwin says that if you can recover from your struggles and enjoy facing challenges, you’re probably ready to become your own boss.
“One of the things I really enjoy about entrepreneurship is that it keeps challenging you,” he says. “You have to make complex ethical decisions, you have to make complex procedures decisions. You have to work under extreme pressure. And many people want to logically avoid them because they tend to make life more complicated.”
But if you are “someone who feels more alive when you’re deeply or dynamically challenged and recognizes the value you can offer to your interpersonal development, then you should try your hand with entrepreneurship.
Of course, it is not something that anyone can make mistakes or recover from a set up. But resilience is a skill that can be built and nurtured over time, according to author and mental performance coach Steve Magnes. He recommends that people change their mindset simply by writing to CNBC Make in July 2022, “To start switching “I” to you.”
“Using second or third person language in self-talk creates a distance between experience and emotional responses,” Magnes said. “The trick in this language allows you to zoom out.”
The next time you face a stressful challenge, you can get through this rather than “you can do this”, or “your name) not “you can do this”.
“When we expand our worldview beyond a self-immersed world, we move from emotional responses to action,” Magnes said.
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