A beautiful, articulate and sharp woman sat in my office recently, having a conversation with me about whether or not she should start her own business. At present, she is employed as a professional within a large corporation.
We explored her reasons for wanting to strike out as an entrepreneur. We examined the advantages she has now as a respected and well-compensated employee in a large organization. She was quiet for a few minutes, and then kind of summed up our discussion with an impassioned, “But I just want to be on my own.”
Adventurous, self-reliant individuals who are willing to take risks will often express this entrepreneurial spirit. It certainly runs through me. People drawn to opening their own business operations usually place a huge value on freedom and autonomy. They’re highly creative and in fact can spew out a dozen ideas a minute, like popcorn.
Most of those ideas eventually land on someone who will point out why they won’t work. If you are considering going into business for yourself, you’ll get some encouragement and probably more reasons why you’re nuts to try it. And there are some important considerations on that last list.
You will end up with a bunch of continua between the advantages and disadvantages of running your own show. The freedom of being your own boss – that’s darned attractive. I can remember many frustrating times when I worked for someone else, even for a university. Frequently, I felt powerless to do anything about my beliefs about how a few changes here and there would improve how the organization went about its business. Usually my bright ideas went nowhere, so I started keeping notes in a little black book. On the cover I wrote, “If I were running this place!” I did it just to cope, and then it became helpful indeed when the day came that I did have my own business.
So, on one end of a continuum is that delicious-sounding freedom. On the other end is the possibility of working all your waking hours trying to keep your business alive, not to mention healthy. Even your sleep can be taken over by nightmares about the “What ifs?” That is if you manage to get in seven or eight hours of sleep anyway, especially when the business is in infancy and toddler years. It can become all-consuming in a hurry.
Many entrepreneurs are drawn to starting a business because of a strong vision. A clear vision can inspire us and pull us through many rough days. At the other end of that continuum, the vision can propel you into doing everything yourself because who else could possible have your vision? Burnout is waiting at the end of that line.
Owning a business can bring us into relationships with many exciting people and can generate admiration and respect from lots of folks. I remember with pleasure a moment when my Dad told me how proud he was that I started and grew a business of my own.
Or … running a business can put you into the loneliest spot in the building. Countless business owners have told me they feel alone in some rarefied air where they can’t share concerns with anyone except me, the coach. The relationship dance has a different rhythm for the owner, and it takes a while to get the steps right.
There are other considerations of course, some personal, some financial (a big one is replacing the benefits provided by large corporations). If you decide to plunge ahead, start planning – and continue planning until the day you turn the business over to the next owner. (After you’ve planned your retirement of course.) Invite respected people in your network to form your first (volunteer) advisory board. Craft into your plan a fence protecting personal time for you, so you’ll still have a family when your business is 5 years old. You must have some leisure time as well, or you’ll get very boring and unhealthy.
Develop a relationship with a banker and other professionals who will be needed to make your vision a reality. Do your homework and everything you can to prepare for the birth of your business. Be honest with yourself and others about how you plan to generate a living from your idea, not to mention a living for all your future employees. Do the math, sharpen your pencils and do the math again.
All of this time you are honing your story, the story of your business, get used to telling it over and over until it energizes you and everyone who hears it. When you’ve done all you can to build a strong foundation and your belief is growing daily – take your fears by the hand and go for it. It is never too late to live the life you want on this planet.
