BEING YOUR OWN BOSS IS NO FAIRY TALE

My apologies to all for no blog yesterday - thank you to Telkom and it's incredibly efficient and reliable ADSL line. Thank you also to it's incredibly bright and articulate staff who spent most of the morning telling me that there was 'nothing wrong' with the ADSL!

What a great article, it highlights exactly what is needed and put's the 'reality' check into place.

Well done Jack & Suzie Welch!

In today's Sunday Times, by Jack and Suzie Welch:

Being your own boss is no fairy tale 27 May 2007 http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/thumbna...pe=img&id=6994

Before you make the leap, separate wishful thinking from the less-rosy realities that characterise the entrepreneurial experience. Sometimes I get the feeling I want to start my own business. While I know some smart friends who might join me, I still wonder whether I have the instincts and leadership required? — Umair Malik, Islamabad, Pakistan

Forget, for a moment, your desire to fly free. Forget the “required” levels of instinct and leadership. And while you’re at it, forget your smart friends. To start a company, you need those things — eventually. But first and foremost, you need a great idea. That doesn’t mean we want to discourage you or denigrate the entrepreneurial urge. To us, the gutsy individuals who launch ventures are some of society’s biggest heroes. And yes, there are people who dump their day jobs, hunker down in a garage or spare bedroom with a bunch of friends and then, five years later, can be seen ringing the opening bell on Wall Street. But before you start visualising yourself in that picture, and make the leap from stability to start-up, it probably makes sense to separate wishful thinking from the less-rosy realities that usually characterise the entrepreneurial experience.

Let’s start with a favourite wish: that entrepreneurship grants independence. True, you will become your own boss. But for months and even years, that choice will mean less freedom and flexibility for you, not more. You won’t control your own life; your new business will do that for you. After all, when you only have two customers, you don’t tell them you can’t meet Monday at 5pm. You smile when they show up three hours later. In your heart, you may be flying free, but in the trenches, you’ll still be taking orders — just from a new set of bosses.

Another bit of wishful thinking is something you don’t mention but is common too — it purports that entrepreneurship bestows financial independence. If only! Unless you’ve built up a pile of savings, no one is more “owned” than the founder of a start-up. We recently met an entrepreneur whose venture was stalled because she was loath to give more equity to private investors or venture capitalists.“It’s bad enough to give up control,” she complained, “But if I keep giving away stock, I’ll still be driving my 1994 Honda Civic to my son’s college graduation.” Given the fact that her son was an infant, she was joking, of course. But the fact is: Start-ups almost always make their founders poor before they make them rich.

Finally, there is that popular notion you refer to: that companies can get born by just a bunch of bright people in the room bursting with energy to “make it happen”. We’d call that partial information. Obviously, passionate, talented people are the key to getting a venture off the ground. And yes, there have been cases of friends banding together to build something amazing from scratch. But those friends usually had an idea to start with. The real engine of any start-up is a product or service that fills a market need, or better yet, creates one. Several years ago, we attended a celebration honouring the 50 fastest-growing entrepreneurial ventures in the Atlanta area. The room buzzed with excitement as everyone waited to hear who would get the top award. The winner ended up being a three-year-old company that had discovered a better way to de-ice aircraft.

Undoubtedly, the company had great leadership, but its revenues were growing 55% a year because it had an idea that changed the market. All around the world, we’ve seen successful entrepreneurs, young and old, literally changing the world for the better. So we don’t want to dissuade you from going out on your own. Just know that there is more to being an entrepreneur than meets the imagination. And there’s a lot less without a great idea to start with.
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