A lot of people dream and talk about being entrepreneurial and starting their own business. Everyone wants to do it, but few ever really take the necessary first step, and those who do take the step rarely put 100% of their efforts toward making it succeed. Nothing in life is truly successful without a full commitment.
There are several posts on Career Ramblings about how to succeed so in this one I will focus on “why you need to be an entrepreneur” (although if you are really wondering why, then maybe it’s not for you). Do keep in mind that building your own future is not for everyone and many people are happy working 40 hour weeks for “the man”. There is nothing wrong with working a 9 to 5 because one of the main goals in life is to be happy. It’s just that different things make different people happy.
Wikipedia defines an entrepreneur as:
Aa person who undertakes and operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes accountability for the inherent risks. Entrepreneurship is often difficult, as many new ventures fail.
Here is why we should all consider being entrepreneurial:
- Risk is fun and exciting. I am talking about calculated risk not haphazard risk. Would you rather sit in front of a computer screen all day mindlessly crunching numbers in excel or proof reading your bosses work about material you have no interest in, or would you rather take an idea you are truly passionate about and turn it into something you can focus all your attention toward and watch it grow and make you money? I would rather focus on the latter.
- You are on your own time schedule. When you are building your own business, there is no one there to tell you when to come into the office and when you can leave. Your only objective is to grow your idea/business into the most successful project you can, so your job is to do whatever it takes to make the growth happen. If you are a morning person, you can wake up at 5am and work; if you are a night owl, you can sleep in but stay up til 3am working your butt off. Be sure to remember that even though you are on your own time schedule, success still takes a lot of work.
- Your success is in your own hands. The extent of your success is solely in your own hands. The formula for your success is: Quality of idea + hard work + luck = success. You are not relying on the CEO, your boss, or your district manager to determine your success.
- Monetary reward. If you work a typical 40 hour week and make $30 per hour, and you happen to have a flash of brilliance that results in your company making an extra $50,000 in revenue, how much of that do you make? Most likely still your $30 per hour. If the same flash of brilliance occurs while implementing your business idea, guess what? All $50,000 goes into your pocket.
- Satisfaction and self-actualization. There is nothing more satisfying than successfully growing your idea into a competive business. You are taking strides toward reaching your full potential in your business life. This is a difficult feeling to come by when you are working a $30 per hour job getting slapped around by your boss. I firmly believe people need to feel they are self actualizing in some way in order to be truly happy.
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I like #5 most . If you have already proven that as an individual contributor you can help your team/company then the next step is to go beyond resume building and build a business.
Joining all dots, seems a good day. I was reading at john chow, got a reply from Jane for my comment, saw your site, and loved ur writeups.
This happened the best time to bump on ur website as I am starting an advertising company soon, So it happened that I read a lot of articals about Entrepreneur(ship).
Please keep this blog updated which would enable people like me to grasp knowledge faster.
Btw noticed that john Anthony writes about Entrepreneurship/startups/managing a company, and Jane writes for working in a company, work culture…
Thanks nice to see each one doing their share of Job
You can’t live life in fear, or at least I can’t.
That’s why I had the guts to quit a comfortable corporate job at one of the largest corporations in Canada (Bell – 125 years old) right after I turned 20 and went independent.
I agree with everything listed here. Four years ago I “took the leap” and started my own business. I was a supervisor in my previous job but had reached the point where I felt I was just treading water and not accomplishing anything, no matter how hard I tried — to put it simply, I was stuck in the middle between unhappy customers, unhappy employees, and a stubborn, close-minded boss (who happened to be the owner of the company). I left to start my own business in the same industry, and although I’m working longer hours than in my old job, I’m enjoying my work a whole lot more. Starting my own business was the best decision I ever made. Nothing compares with a) having the freedom to try out an idea without having to get approval from “the boss”, and b) knowing that YOU are the one benefitting from the fruits of your labor.
Wht do you people suggest, Is it a good decision starting a business without working for anyother company initially??
Does success comes with enough experience only??
I belive if one can crawl, and fetch a lot of information, and have the creativity in the product/service its enough to start a business.
pulling out in 2 ways, working for a company initially would either replicate the way of work patterns which i belive is negative
or
Finding mistakes in the company work culture, learn and try to use the company’s mistakes as your strength and elight your own setup..
I support trying out a position in the large company.
Learn workplace politics, management techniques etc.
I have no training past highschool, but I gained a lot of experience from my corporate job, which I got sick of later. But it was a worthy experience to learn how things work on the inside.
At this point, the closest thing I’d take on to a corporate job is on a contract for their marketing/website consulting, that’s it.
That’s a great post!… the only problem with being an Entrepreneur is the lack of steady income.. at least at the beginning. If you can be an entrepreneur and keep your day job until a steady flow comes in then your ok.. but then your entrepreneurship suffers.
Its hard to start something on your own with out the steady money flow. It can become very discouraging and depressing if doing what you love doesn’t allow you to live the live you want to live (financially speaking)
I feel this is where people mistake..
Try to work elsewhere not to risk their financial positions..
No harm thinking that way, but one should do WHAT EVER IT TAKES.
starting and running a company, initially would require 100% of your time, just as a newly wed wife.
Yes its hard to start something without steady money flow, thats the reason an entrepuner dreams, and acts. If it was that easy, 100% of population would be with companies, and none would be working.
Its enjoying every step, to create one wonderful moment to say YOU CAN
I understand working in a large company is one point to know the work patterns.
but As i said, wouldnt i replicate them , and most of my own thinking would be brain washed seeing a much successful company?
my question is simple..
Does success comes with enough experience?
If you can start with a mature company and then break out on your own, you’ll have a good headstart.
The key is to pay attention and gather resources when you’re at that company. Get to know the suppliers, the customers, how they lock in a sale, everything. And keep your eye on good people at the company that you might want to hire later when your own business grows.
That said, if you grow quickly and get on your former company’s radar screen, they could turn around and sue you, depending on the situation and what kind of employment agreement you had with them.
A business associate of mine did this (yes, he got sued too, but he won). Now he has his own multi-million dollar company and he’s doing very well.
#1 Reason all Americans need to be entrepreneurs:
Corporate America is selling out every lower to middle class job to non-U.S. citizens here and abroad. Unless you own a business in the near future you may not have a job. You need to be upper class or you are most likely screwed. Do you really need numbers 2 through 5 if that is #1?
Actually, it isn’t completely corporate America’s fault. Everytime you buy that Communist Chinese product you are giving away a job of someone who pays taxes to the same country as you (and that money does get distributed to states and counties).
But hey, it is worth it, $29 DVD player > stable economy anyday, right?
That was a nice suggestion, but somewhere my instincts say JUST DO IT and start on my own now..
I dont know if i am going to suceed, pretty confused what top do now.
lets see, what i decide with
There is nothing wrong with going on your own without having previous experience. You might think you would replicate the mistakes of others, but if anything you would most likely learn how NOT to handle particular situations. A tactic you would consider to be bad management is something you will always see as bad management, so it’s unlikely you would unknowingly start replicating those you worked with before.
Also, if you work for a company rooted in the industry you will have invaluable experience and an added level of credibility when you strike out on your own. You’ll learn how the industry works, how clients/customers behave in that market, the common pitfalls in the industry that you can then use to access the risk of a past idea that may share traits with an idea of yours, and much more. You’ll also meet some people who you could establish a good working relationship with and in the future could come on board to help with the company, etc. You should definitely be mindful of those you’re working with and be discreet about the full scale of your ideas, but don’t also believe that everyone who works there is out to steal your idea or bring you down. Hell, they may be just like you dying to strike out on their own or have an idea they’ll share with you and you could find a great business partner in that person. Once again though, just be sure about who you deal with. There’s no reason to rush into a work relationship with someone.
But now I’m tired of typing. Hope it helped.
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Great post (and comments) – here’s what made me chuckle. the Wikipedia definition says “assumes accountability for the inherent risks. Entrepreneurship is often difficult, as many new ventures fail.”
How about for being an employee: “assumes accountability for the inherent risks. [Working for someone] is often difficult, as many [employees] fail [to keep their job for 40 years].”
Aren’t we all entrepreneurs when it comes down to it? :p
Jason Alba
CEO – JibberJobber.com
I completely agree with the 5 points outlined in this post about entrepreneurship. I started my internet business 2 years ago, and watching my ideas go from nothing to something is really satisfying.
Also, since being laid off 2 months ago I now work on my internet business full time and have found that I really have to manage my time much better as it is easy to do other things cause I am at home in my pajamas.
It takes a different level of discipline. The best part of it is I don’t have to answer to a pencil neck emotionless manager anymore.
This is a great post, for people thinkin’ about leaving their jobs and striking out on their own.
Das Brain
Amazing post!
I am working hard to become an entrepreneur and I think the first thing an aspiring entrepeneur should be able to do is spell “entrepeneur”.
Seriously though, you should include or have a follow up posts why you shouldnt become an entrepeneur. Include some things like:
1. Not being able to pay for anything because you have yet to make money can be depressing and stressful.
2. Its been a year and idea after idea has been met with failure.
3. Your spouse is sick of hearing that “Money will come and we just have to be patient”.
4. You will work your butt off day after day harder than any 9 to 5 job with no promise of making a return on your investment.
5. If you work at home dont expect to get any work done when the kids are home from school and/or when the baby is crying his head off.
Should I go on?