Only 10% of working Americans are entrepreneurs. It’s a surprisingly small number considering the amount of money self-help gurus make selling the myth of entrepreneurial elitism.
There is an ideology popular among business gurus that proclaims everyone who doesn’t work for themselves is a wage slave in need of entrepreneurial redemption. Many claim entrepreneurs are the “American Dream”, and unless you are self-made and in charge, you are nothing but a cog in someone else’s vastly more important wheel.
Reality is significantly different than this ideological myth. Self-employment isn’t always an option, it could very well make you miserable, broke and in a worse spot than you were when you were working. Relationships can become strained, your sense of self-worth can be reduced to nothing, and simply trying to pay your bills can be an enormous challenge.
If you ignore the falsehoods and stereotypes perpetuated by our culture and accept the fact that most people who choose this form of employment fail on a regular basis— being an entrepreneur quickly loses its sex appeal. In many cases, keeping your job, and investing your money wisely, provides a far greater chance of achieving financial freedom than risking it all on a hunch.
As children, we learn how to investigate the world around us. We learn simple deductive reasoning, the “five w’s” and the “1 H”. Many adults forget these early lessons and act on impulse or emotion rather than reason.
When it comes to changing your career, whether you are switching jobs or contemplating a radical change such as self-employment — the first question you have to honestly ask yourself is why.
Why do you want to try your hand at entrepreneurship? Are you out of work and desperate? Do you think you have an idea that nobody else has? Do you hate your cubicle at work? Are you worried about getting laid off? Do you feel like you aren’t getting the pay you deserve and think you can make more money on your own?
There is no right or wrong answer — you simply have to be completely honest with yourself. Typically people seek freedom or money. If you’ve been working for any length of time, being honest with yourself may be more difficult than you think. If it is money you seek its important to recognize that you likely will never find it — and if you do — it will likely take a long time.
I started my first business at 18. I was on my own at a young age and had nothing but a half-empty apartment. The jobs I was qualified for at the time were in glorified sweatshops full of miserable people. The reason I became an entrepreneur was survival. My resume didn’t match my skill set because of my circumstances. I couldn’t afford to go to school to become a Doctor or a Lawyer — I needed to survive — which was almost impossible earning minimum wage.
The question of where is an essential one. You can be an entrepreneur anywhere but that doesn’t mean all business ideas will work anywhere. Just like with real estate, many businesses are all about location.
I lived in one of the largest cities in North America in the 90s. The city was littered with “dot com” startups that no longer exist. I tried to get funding from Venture Capital a number of times without success. Eventually, I ended up pitching my idea to an incubator. I had written a business plan to create a mobile computer repair service, which was unheard of at the time. They liked the idea — but they didn’t think it was a good long-term bet, they invited me to join another project because they thought that computers would eventually fix themselves and my idea would be obsolete. As a teenager, I was able to pitch to a board of directors like my survival depended on it (because it did). I never ended up funding the business — but it was a minor speedbump in a city of millions. Thankfully, I turned down the offer to join one of their incubated companies, none of them made it past the dot-com crash let alone into the 21st century— ironically “Geek Squad” did.
The question of when was never an issue for me because I started so young. My apartment was wallpapered with post-it notes full of ideas. As disturbing as this was to my friends — I didn’t own a computer. I was forced to use the library system at a time when the internet was gaining traction and “normal people” were paying monthly for it. I was young, and I had nothing but a few boxes worth of belonging. It would have been a different story if I was mid-30s with a family and bills to pay.
When you work a job, you sometimes feel like a prisoner. The same can be said of being an entrepreneur. No matter what your situation is, you will have partners, customers, and suppliers that are essential to your livelihood. Being self-employed affords you some additional freedoms that other forms don’t, but it certainly does not free you from all obligations — no matter how much money you have.
When you have nothing you have nothing to lose.
When you work a job, you sometimes feel like a prisoner. The same can be said of being an entrepreneur. No matter what your situation is, you will have partners, customers, and suppliers that are essential to your livelihood. Being self-employed affords you some additional freedoms that other forms don’t, but it certainly does not free you from all obligations — no matter how much money you have.
To read more go to site – https://medium.com/@rgeddes/so-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-a7a629cf0d5c By Ryan Geddes in Medium Daily Digest