Everyone starts out in business with the hope of succeeding. While the desired end is exciting, the means to it is usually more than most people could envisage. The challenges reveal to them how unrealistic their expectations had been. As the challenges unfold,they go from ignorant optimism to informed pessimism. Fear creeps in and it seems the only convenient option is to give up. If only they have had the right heads-up before launching in, they may have been better prepared for the unavoidable.

Either for fear that you might be discourage or because they just want you learn on your own, here are 4 truths about business that no one will tell you;

1. ANXIETIES WILL HAUNT YOU: There will always be a cause for worries at very point. With potholes of client’s impossible demands, vendors’ failure to deadlines of delivery and customers’ delay tactics to postpone payment, the road is never smooth. These tiresome situations take their toll on your work flow and have your plans frustrated. With this, stability which contribute the reliability of your venture, becomes an uphill task to maintain. This is why you must always be proactive in order to manage the unexpected. It helps to device alternatives ahead of failure of an original plan to go through. You must also train your workers (if you have any) to imbibe the same attitude. 

2. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE EVERYONE: Customers are not won and sustained by saying yes to every of their requests. Customers are right until they make demands outside of the promised capacity. You must know when this is the case, like deadlines given as a result of their own failure to decide within the time allowed. In cases like this, you just have to make it crystal clear that the time taken for a process that leads to delivery to be completed makes their demand impossibility. It is better you tell them and they get upset; this will inform their future decisions. But if you make an impossible promise, no excuse will change the fact you have failed to honour your word. They may cease to be your customer, forgetting the quality of your past services.  

3. FAILURE IS ESSENTIAL: Failure does not translate to defeat, unless you make it so. Every episode of failure is an indication of something done wrong. This makes it an opportunity to learn how not to do it. So, for every time that you are let down, mourn your loss if you want, but clear your teary eyes to have a clear view of what you did wrong. This requires objectivity. If you are not ready to own up to your inadequacy or error, progress is a pipe dream for your business. This also implies that you listen to other voices of reason as much as necessary, as you may not be able to see all things for yourself. The lessons you learn from your failure are clues to better decision making in the future. 

4. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE: One of the things you would realize is business is the need to adapt to change from time to time. You can’t do this unless you come to terms with the inevitability of change. You must be able to predict changes by possessing the keenness to correctly observe trends and times. But some changes come unexpected, so you must be alert to be thrown off balance by wield possibilities. If you’re too relaxed, you will live in denial for too long, and by the time you’re ready to embrace reality, time would have left you behind. From technologies to industry policies, client demands, and other market realities, you will profit from changes only if you’re flexible enough to quickly adjust to them.

The road is never a fun ride. But the adventures that it brings, the learning curve it avails you and the victory that comes as a result of your resilience after are what make it all worth it. So rather than cave in, embrace the challenges and grow through them.