1. monday
In my previous profession, Sunday nights always brought feelings of stress, nervousness, and dread. Sunday nights marked the end of the fun! Normally a deep sleeper, on Sunday nights I would often stay awake for hours with my mind racing about the week ahead. As an entrepreneur, I am totally relaxed on Sunday nights and look forward to next week. I get excited to do what I love on Mondays!

2. Freedom and Flexibility of Schedule
My typical morning: coffee with husband, gym, shower, office around 9, check email and update social media profiles, make any necessary calls, then start thinking about lunch. In the afternoon I usually work on marketing, although this can always change depending on events, visitors, holidays, etc. I do things… in my own time. I have no one looking over my shoulder, ready to give a performance review, no one to ask for permission to take time off, and no unnecessary pressure or negativity from a boss or co-worker.

3. Blaze your own path to success
As an employee, the thought process is to spend a small fortune getting the education needed to secure a job, moving up the career ladder adding hours to your work week and stress to your life. After working his whole life for more than 30 years, he retires, at which point he hopes his health is good enough to travel a bit and enjoy life.

Entrepreneurs start with a dream, a vision, and then most importantly, they take a risk to live that dream. They understand that without taking risks you cannot find the greatest success. Entrepreneurs work hard to build an empire, then proceed to hire assistants and outsource tasks. All the time growing as a person and enjoying the trip. They believe that waiting until retirement to travel and enjoy life is foolish.

4. Use creative freedom to find wealth
Entrepreneurs are great at using new ideas gained through the process of lifelong learning to constantly change and improve their businesses. Everyone gets bored, as an employee there is not much you can do about it. As an entrepreneur, you can try new things, whether it’s a new product, service, or marketing campaign. You may even break out of your main business genre to seek creative outlets regarding other passions in your life. There are very few millionaires who are not entrepreneurs. As entrepreneurs, we are in control of our own destinies and have the power and ingenuity to create wealth beyond our wildest dreams.

5. Be your own safety
In this time of recession, being your own boss is the best position you can be in. As entrepreneurs we have options. We can use creative marketing techniques to reach new customers, modify our products, and refine our businesses to continue to be successful. Depending on your business and level of creativity, you may work a little harder to succeed in a downturn, or you may even use the downturn to make your business prosper, but either way, you’ll make it. In corporate America, no one has a sense of security because no one is in control of their own future.

6. Join a motivated, passionate and empowered group
Entrepreneurs are a unique group. We come together at conferences and events to lead, learn and support each other. As a result of living our true purpose and passions in life, we are a positive, successful and talented group. Passions turn into talents ranging from stand up comedy to surfing and professional dancing. Needless to say, entrepreneurs make for an interesting bunch. The desire to learn new ways to improve their business makes entrepreneurs a highly educated bunch and always on the cutting edge. Entrepreneurs overcome failure, avoid repeating it, persevere, and celebrate their success.

7. The recession creates opportunities
As the recession wreaks havoc on large companies with high overhead, opportunities arise for small businesses. Staying in the country at the forefront in this bad economy. Finding new markets online, outsourcing, and finding out what kind of product people are really looking for are just a few ways to achieve unprecedented levels of success. Using their ingenuity, entrepreneurs decide how much they will let the recession affect them.

Congratulations to all my fellow entrepreneurs, and to those of you with an entrepreneurial spirit who have not yet taken the plunge, I encourage you to think long and hard about what is holding you back.