As we all know, starting your own business is a big commitment, with potentially major benefits and payoffs involved.

Entrepreneurs are notorious for working around the clock, to the point of complete burnout. But, when the stars align and everything goes as it should, that major investment of time and energy can be paid back with interest – resulting in a significant fortune, and a lot more autonomy than the average employee has.

Beyond simple hard work, however, there are a whole variety of particular challenges that you need to be mindful of when starting your own business. After all, knowledge is power, and it’s better not to be caught by surprise if it can be avoided.

Here are some of the challenges to be mindful of when you’re setting out as an entrepreneur.

Legal Issues, Paperwork, and Official Procedures

There are all sorts of legal and bureaucratic processes you will have to attend to when setting up your own business. It may be that you need to consult with an expert in commercial law in order to make sure that all of these elements go off without a hitch.

Between registering trademarks, changing your tax status to self-assessment, ensuring that you have the right health and safety procedures in place to not fall foul of the law, and more, there are many boxes that you need to tick off.

Even minor lapses or shortcomings with regard to legal and official procedures can derail your business and its prospects – and may even have additional repercussions for you on a personal level.

Personal Scheduling and Time-Management Difficulties

Becoming a successful entrepreneur isn’t just a matter of enjoying the sensation of “being the boss.” It also requires you to take on all sorts of responsibilities that you might never have had to face before in your professional life.

Another thing it entails is having to be entirely responsible for your own personal scheduling and time-management, in the absence of an overarching structure to hold you accountable.

Many people, when they first transition to the self-employed lifestyle, find themselves struggling more with this than they ever imagined they would. Suddenly, what was once a reasonably clearly-defined workday becomes an endless battle against procrastination, and a timetable that alternates between standard and nocturnal at the drop of a hat.

If you’re unable to master time-management, the odds are not good that your business will thrive, or that your own health and well-being will stand in great shape.

Maintaining a Consistent Vision, Despite Repeated Setbacks

Failure is, of course, an innate part of the life of any entrepreneur.

The most celebrated entrepreneurs and business owners out there are typically successful not because they’ve never faced failures and setbacks – but rather because they persevered through the failures and setbacks, and have taken lessons from every experience.

When you set out on your own entrepreneurial journey, you need to set things up so that you are able to maintain a consistent vision for what you want to achieve, despite repeated setbacks. Persistence is an essential ingredient of success.