by Stacey Thompson
While our country’s economic conditions are improving, the job market is still very much an employers’ market, and good-paying jobs that one could spend many years in are hard to come by. A knee-jerk reaction to this might be, “Why not just work for myself?” As many experienced entrepreneurs would tell you, it’s not quite as easy as it sounds.
Starting a business from the ground up has its own share of challenges and frustrations, and even by just common-sense reckoning and anecdotal examples, there is a greater likelihood for new businesses to fail within their first year/s of operation. Nobody can guarantee success in these challenging times; even a well-financed business idea can meet an unexpected end.
So, is it the right time for you? The following are some questions one should ask one’s self before making the leap into entrepreneurship, especially if the status quo is being employed in a job that is sufficiently able to meet the more basic needs of the person, and possibly his/her dependents.
Do You Have a Big Idea?
A great entrepreneurial idea need not be major in scale, nor does it have to be overly complexed. A simple proposition that effectively solves a problem or fulfills a great want or need is all that it takes for a financially lucrative venture.
Not having a good idea to back your plan in being an entrepreneur implies that you are just following the lead of another person with potentially lucrative braingasm. By my reckoning, unless I trust this person or entity explicitly, I simply would not drop everything I am doing at the moment to follow them in their venture.
Is It Just for the Money?
There is nothing wrong with chasing an idea while seeing dollar signs. The danger in this, however, is if hard times and financial hurdles start getting in the way, you might just lose your motivation to go on, and the entire effort becomes a waste of time and money (plus the job you left behind).
Ideally, you’ll want to have a purpose to starting this venture that is transcendent to the idea of just making a decent pile of bills, something to keep aspiring for when the challenges become near-insurmountable and the cash is just bleeding away from your struggling enterprise.
Are You Ready to Make Sacrifices?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There is no such thing as a 100% surefire enterprise, and to reap great rewards, you must be able to really work at transmuting great ideas, hard work, and persistence into financial prosperity. Yes, it is relatively easier to collect a paycheck to fulfill a narrow range of functions for someone else’s company compared to giving birth to your own business and growing it. Are you ready for this kind of effort?
I hope these simple but effective questions guide you, the prospective entrepreneur, in making the decisions that will profoundly change your life. Onward, young upstarts!
Stacey Thompson is a professional writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and a lover of weird little animals. She is based in San Diego, California, and continues to aspire to be the big boss of her own dotcom company, as well as be able to join a high-level executive peer advisory organization like the Sage Executive Group.
