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Entrepreneurship. . .What's It All About?It seems like you can't turn around anymore with seeing an infomercial, reading a newspaper, or hearing about a new business opportunity. Usually, these lures focus on big money, financial freedom, and how their business opportunity is different and better than all the others. The truth is that for every individual who succeeds in a new business venture, there are hundreds (maybe even thousands) who fail. Why? Because there is much more to entrepreneurship and being a self employed entrepreneur than hanging out a shingle. Being a successful entrepreneur requires some real-life information, a business owner skill set, a significant tolerance for risk, and most importantly, an entrepreneurial attitude. Sadly, most people who work for a paycheck either aren't prepared or don't have the perseverance or risk tolerance to succeed in their own business, so they quit. They go back to their paycheck-to-paycheck life and become convinced that only the rich (or the very smart, or the well-educated, or whatever they are not) can succeed in business. They are absolutely wrong! Being a successful small business owner has nothing to do with formal education and, believe it or not, very little to do with money. That's right. Being successful is not about money. I'm not trying to get into a philosophical discussion about success and happiness, but let's be very clear about this - There are many business opportunities that require very little upfront cash investment. However, even with those opportunities, most people fail. Forget about failure - Most people don't even try it the first time. How many people do you know who own their own successful business?
Click here to read about why most people fail.
First let's talk about financial success. It's 100% true that your odds of earning over $100,000 or more per year are much greater if you are self-employed than if you work for someone else. It's also true that the odds of earning $1,000,000 or more per year are almost non-existent unless you are self-employed. And don't underestimate the value of freedom. In fact, the thing that I love the most about owning my own business is the freedom to come and go as I please. If I want to pick my teen-age son up from school and take him to lunch, I can. If I need to run some personal errands in the middle of the afternoon, I can. I take vacations when I want to, not according to an arbitrary schedule that is forced on me. And I could go on forever about the freedom to spend time with my family and be there when those I love need me. When my mother, who lived 5 hours away, was seriously ill last year, I spent almost two months with her as she transitioned from the intensive care unit to home. There is no way I could have done that if I'd had a traditional job - at least not without applying for leave (that probably would have been unpaid) and worrying about my job the whole time. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't easy. I was working while I was with my mom, but I was able to do it - without losing income and without worrying about losing my job. I operated my business almost seamlessly from a location 5 hours away from my home base. That's freedom.
So let's be more specific about exactly what an entrepreneur is. An entrepreneur is someone who creates new value by offering a product or service. An entrepreneur operates a new business venture and assumes the full responsibility for its success or failure. The significant ideas here are new and responsibility. First, let's talk about the concept of a new venture. There is one school of thought that says that if you step into a business venture that has been established by someone else (like a franchise or a multi-level marketing opportunity) that you are not a true entrepreneur. I disagree. When you get into business, even if it is in a franchise or a business that uses network marketing, you are self-employed and your business is a new one. You will have some assistance in getting the business going because you will able to take advantage of established marketing materials and training, but you are still creating something new. Your business is unique to you. Even franchises that try so hard not to differentiate one from another all have some element uniqueness that reflects the owner or management. The real hallmark of an entrepreneurial endeavor, though, is the assumption of responsibility or risk. There are many levels of risk involved in becoming an entrepreneur. The first is the one that is most commonly associated with self employment by the average person considering starting a new business - the risk of not getting paid. It's true. When you are self-employed, there is no guarantee that you will be successful. Unless you have started out with some investors or a nice bank loan, there will be no paycheck for you unless you make it happen. This is probably the number one reason why people with big dreams can never really make the leap to self employment. They just can't stomach the risk of not getting a regular paycheck. There is another type of risk that entrepreneurs take - risk of innovation. For the self-employed, there is a constant tension between tried and true methods of income and taking a chance to do things differently in order to get an even bigger return. In order to really succeed, you have to take chances - with your time, your resources, your creativity. Taking a chance may mean that you fail. Not taking a chance means you will likely never acheive the fullness of your dreams. Most don't realize that the risk involved in leaving behaind a regular paycheck is only the first risk you must take, and ultimately the least significant. But let me say it again - the payoff for the risk is:
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