My Entrepreneurial Dilemma 2009
Posted By admin on March 18, 2009
Being a serial entrepreneur has always been some what of a dilemma in our house. As an entrepreneur you way off the positives like being your own boss, being able to set your own hours, make your own decisions and generally running things the way you want to run them against things like having a regular paycheck, the many benefits you can get from a corporate job like health insurance, 401k, worry free vacations etc. Obviously as a serial entrepreneur I decided to rather have the freedom and do things my own way to being put in a box by corporate America. When things go well with your own business they can go really well so there is a huge upside. during those times live is sweet, and you get to live live the way you should. However, when things get rough you quickly get an appreciation for why so many people are just not cut out or have the desire to be business owners. Nothing like having to pay all you staff before being able to take a paycheck – if there is enough in the bank. Having shown loyalty by sticking with people and / or suppliers only to have them bail on you at the most crucial of times. You definitely need to have a very thick skin and realize that for the most part you are the only one with the desire and commitment to see things through during the tough times. Different types of businesses need different skill sets and yet, the basics of running an effective business is much the same, irrelevant of the type of business, location, market or niche. There is a certain set of core skills that apply across all businesses and there is a lot of different opinions about what they are. One popular school of thought is that you should go into a business that you are really passionate about and that you know very, very well. I tend to disagree. While this helps in the very early stages it becomes a huge negative as the business grows. You are reluctant to give up control or to believe that other people can actually do many of the core functions better than you can.
Most people like these end up creating a job and not a business. You can read more on this topic here. The business is so dependent on them that it can not function with out them. This means that they are unable to sell the business for any kind of real value as they can not pass it on to anyone that does not have the same skill set as they do – and that is usually very tough to find. To my mind it is better to know very little about the business but to be passionate about running a business. this way you will treat it as a business and not as a personal crusade. I have used this philosophy in the many businesses I have started or run, from an online store selling invisible fence batteries, one selling enzyme diet products through to brick and mortar stores providing such services as handyman Columbus, a company that does house cleaning Boston and a plumber Columbus. You will always have the mind set of finding the right people to perform the various technical functions within the business and not become trapped in running the business yourself. This will enable you to grow the business in a better, more controlled fashion and ending up with a valuable asset that you can then sell or get residual income from while you move onto other things. Be that another business or another passion in you life no that you have the time and money to do that.