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Being an entrepreneur and owning your own business is an end goal for most people. It's a thrilling end result -- the fact that you're your own boss, you set your own hours, and remain accountable only to yourself can be a heady mix. Yet, the benefits of the position usually overshadow the more pertinent considerations that would-be entrepreneurs overlook. Although there are significant benefits to being a business owner, there's also a considerable amount of background work that rarely gets highlighted but needs to be done. These 12 members of YEC look at these extraneous factors that new entrepreneurs tend to overlook before embarking on starting their business and explain why these elements are so critical to your success as a business owner.

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Onboarding a new employee is an exciting time for any business. While you're eager to get your new team member up and running on their tasks, you also need to ensure they understand the company culture and will mesh with your organization for the long term. That's why we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

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The end of this year is right around the corner, and smart business owners will already be setting up plans and goals for the coming first quarter. Planning helps a business take stock of what it's achieved thus far and what it can hope to accomplish in the first quarter of the new year, given its available time and resources. With proper foresight, a business can set itself up to succeed by making smart decisions and knowing where to invest its resources. Given the challenges we've all faced this year, seeing a tremendous Q1 performance next year will bolster confidence. Below, eight contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council offer valuable advice for planning for Q1 of the new year and explain how they set themselves up to succeed.

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With the holidays approaching quickly, many are ready to set their “out of office” messages and relax and recharge. It’s important for employers to encourage this balance and promote the use of paid time off around the holidays. However, if everyone takes off at the same time, it may leave you with a skeleton crew and piles of work for when employees return, making for a not-so-happy start to the new year.  To address this problem, we asked eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their own creative solutions. Below, they detail the balance between encouraging their team to take time off and leaving the company short-staffed during the holiday season.

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Entrepreneurs can be easily distracted. Whether it's new ideas popping into their heads or the demands of their businesses, distractions abound and can easily steal away your focus. However, in many situations, you'll need to have all your wits and focus on you if you're trying to resolve a problem. Developing a method to maintain concentration when you most need it is crucial to the success of your business and yourself as a business owner. To help, we asked 11 members of YEC what they usually do to achieve uninterrupted focus. Below, they share some of their secrets, as well as valuable advice on how other entrepreneurs could incorporate these behaviors into their schedules, helping them achieve better focus.

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Geographic independence is the idea that you can pursue your professional passion from anywhere in the world and achieve your economic goals while doing so.

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There's some merit to the adage of working hard to play hard. With workers devoting their all to a business, especially when it's just getting off the ground, it can be easy for them to lose sight of their need for relaxation. Therefore, it is up to the leaders to intervene and help employees realize that their peace and mental health are just as important as the valuable work they do. Employees that relax and take things in stride are less likely to experience burnout or have emotional breakdowns. Here, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer sage advice on how to encourage employees to take time off for relaxation as a core element of keeping them motivated and functional.

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Some entrepreneurs who want to scale their companies and fast-track their growth hire a business coach to help them get there. These professionals often have years of business experience themselves and can help you take your business to new heights with their insights. If you’re on the fence about hiring a coach, take it from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council: It’s worth the investment. Below, 10 members shared one of the biggest benefits they’ve experienced from hiring a business coach and why they suggest others follow suit.

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With the sheer amount of productivity hacks and life hacks on the market today, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Even with all of these, it can be hard to figure out which ones work and which ones are just myths. Increasing your productivity as an entrepreneur means that you can get more done in a shorter space of time. For people who spend most of their waking time getting work done and contributing to their company's growth, productivity hacks that work can be worth their weight in gold. We asked 10 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council about how they improved their personal productivity. Below are their valuable insights into the unique habits they utilize to make themselves more productive.

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Disagreements and conflicts are inevitable in the workplace. As a leader, it’s your job to mediate any issues between workers so your company culture remains positive and productive. However, this is often easier said than done: It takes a truly empathetic and effective leader to listen to each side and help both parties come to a mutually-beneficial solution. To help you, we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members about the most effective ways to confront conflict in the workplace. Here’s what they recommend.

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Focus on unit economics to generate more cash flow and profitability.

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The shared agreement dictates the ongoing relationship in a client-service provider dynamic.

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It's no surprise that cold calling remains one of the most effective means of getting leads. Unfortunately, people tend to be averse to getting calls out of the blue. Some people even reject unknown numbers to avoid cold calls altogether. Despite this, user engagement with phone calls remains high, and the number of people you connect with increases your chance of success. Even though it's a numbers’ game at heart, you can develop an advantage by stacking the odds in your favor. The most critical thing to figure out is how to approach cold calling so as to get the best results. We consulted eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council regarding their best advice for landing cold calling clients. Here's what they had to share:

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Innovation can change how a company does business and significantly improve its bottom line. That is why innovation should be a core value for any organization, and leaders should spare no efforts to encourage their teams to come up with innovative ideas. However, the stigma in some companies not to appear too "out there" keeps many creative ideas from coming to the fore. Managers that can put their staff at ease during brainstorming sessions of innovation-focused conversations have a much higher chance of getting them to reveal their innovative ideas. For managers who want to learn how to encourage employees to be more open and embrace their creativity, eight contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council speak about their own experiences within their companies and the most effective ways to have more conversations that lead to innovation.

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Don't let a work-from-home culture act as a platform to lament low productivity.