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Bv Alan Oakes

Born or created?

Decetrly, S9ME9NE CALLED to ask my thoughts about them starting their own busilln.... It's one of several similar calls I've received over recent years-usually from someone who has lost their job, can't find a new one, and sees this as their way of getting back to work. To be or not to be an entrepreneur?

My first questions: Are you starting from scratch or buying another business? Are you finaniially and mentally ready to own your own business? Why now? How is your vision for your business different from what others are offering? How will you raise the bar over the competition to give others a reason to do business with your new company?

At that point, most decide it's not worth the risk. The reason is that it was really a pipe dream, an escape from reality. And this is where the real entrepreneur stands out, because if you really do have an idea, it should be gnawing at you that you must try rt out, some way, somehow!

Over my career, I have worked with those I call "real" entfepreneurs. They're the ones who had an idea, had to find ways to get that idea to market, and would allow nothing to stand in their way. Some had earlier ideas that failed miserably. Yet' the born "nirep.eneurs will continue setting up businesses until one hits. These are the 57o who oftenfrom an early age found ways to ealn money by starting a small business-delivering, making, selling a new product or service. They are like Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft from his gara1e at age 20.

They have strong drive, persistence, the tolerance to fail and quickly bounce back, high energy, recognition of when they need professional management to take the busin"ir "u"n further, and-most of all-the need to win. They want to control their own destiny. One trait they possess-which can be good and bad-is their single-mindedness. They iaw the path they wanted and nobody could tell them otherwise. Hence, some fail. But it won't stop them trying again.

On the other hand, the majority of us are quite happy to work for someone else, not needing to be an owner or even manager, content to enjoy the security that comes with a regularpaycheck and benefits. For most of us with a mortgage and kids to put through school and everything else to pay for, even if you want your own business, the risks are simply too great. I included myself in this bucket for many years. I earned good money at the top of the corporate ladder, had far more than I needed, and never had to worry too much over paying all the bills. I always thought about one day having my own business' I was convinced I would be successful, but I was not ready for a long time to pull the trigger.

But then comes along a life-changing event. Or circumstances change-you lose your job, the kids leave home. Financial needs change, and this is when, perhaps for the first time, the dream might be able to happen. This is what may be classified as the "accidental" entrepreneur. And this is what most of us who own our own businesses are. We perhaps never had that big idea that would shake the world (e.g., Facebook), but we had the .onfid.n.. to either start a business or buy an existing one and take it to the next level. My big driver was that I just knew at a certain point I had not enjoyed the prior five years of my corporate life. I could not see working for someone else anymore. I knew it was now or never to own my own business.

This is when you have to learn to make yourself into an entrepreneur. It's very different, sometimes scary, and requires a different mindset and different skills than those you needed in your old corporate world. You must learn about launching or buying a business, competitive advantage, finance, accounting, cash flow, marketing, sales, leadership-many skills you had a whole management team for in your corporate days. You must work through those rainy days when those sales jusl don't happen or cash is low. The big difference may be that many of us no longer sleep as well at night, because at the end of the day we have everything, including our homes, on the line. Today, I would have it no other way. I only wish I'd taken the path to ownership at least 10 years earlier.

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