Carl Gerhardt
Is owning your own business really for you? Many of us think it is but we may have not considered some critical questions that need asked and answered before answering that question.
Five Reasons To Start Your Own Business
1. People need or want it. Are you filling a void? Do people really want what you’re selling? How cool is it to provide something that makes people feel better, sleep better, learn better, live better, and so forth. Look at some successful startups, and they were built around things that made life better: computers, transportation, web applications, organic food, tutoring, a whole world of new and better things and ways to do things.
2. You’ll be better off. This spans a wide range of situations, from making more money, to sharing home and child time, to living in a better place, having more time; this is such a fundamentally good reason that it spills over to the others to follow. And don’t forget your relationships, as in family and loved ones: don’t think you’ll be better off if they aren’t. (Or, if that sounds good to you, do yourself and them a favor and get out of that relationship).
3. You’ll be happier. For me, looking back, one of my main drivers was wanting to do things my way, wanting to spend my time on tasks that interested me. I wasn’t sure I’d make more money or make my family better off, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make less, and they wouldn’t be worse off, while I would be doing something I liked and believed in. I’m not the only one.
4. You’ll control your own destiny. When you build your own business, success or failure depends on you, not your boss, your company, and much less politics or being a team player. I’ve always liked that feeling myself. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.
5. Change the world for the better. Build a business, employ people, give them something meaningful to do, and you make the world better off. Is it possible this is the same satisfaction that you got from building a sand castle on the beach, when you were a kid, except longer and stronger and more real? Not to be dramatic, but starting a business, if it lasts, adds something to the world. More so if the business has a purpose.
On the other hand, once again suspending the critical point of whether or not it’s going to be successful (plan it well, please), here are five reasons not to start that business:
Five Reasons Not To Start Your Own Business
1. It takes a lot of work. I’ve been dealing with entrepreneurs for more than 30 years now, and I’ve never seen even one of them who worked less while building a business than when he or she was an employee, or a student, or something else.
2. It causes a lot of worry. It’s hard to avoid. You don’t know the future, you live in uncertainty, and, if you grow, people depend on you. You take risks like credit lines and money owed to you and money you owe. You spend money based on future projections. If you’re Zen enough, maybe you don’t worry; but most people do worry. There’s a lot of stress.
3. Failure can cost you big time. Businesses do fail, and not always through the fault of the owner. Even good decisions have bad outcomes. There are a lot of factors you can’t control. I know people whose business failure cost them their sense of self, plus their life relationships. If you can’t deal with the possibility, don’t go there. According to the SBA about 80 percent of small business startups are no longer in business after five years. However, the opposite is true for franchises, over 80 percent of them are still open after five years.
4. You won’t be your own boss. It’s funny how often we equate owning your own business with being your own boss. That’s only partly true. You do get the independence I mentioned in number 4 above, controlling your own destiny. Usually you can set your time schedule, and often even your customers. But consider this: you’re not your own boss; your customers are your boss.
5. You will make mistakes. If you can’t live with mistakes, don’t start your own business. You’re doomed. You can’t go through this forest without making some wrong turns. The good news is all businesses make mistakes, and most of them survive them. But if you can’t live with your own mistakes, keep your day job.
Conclusion
It’s not for everybody. Is it for you? In today’s environment controlling your own destiny by owning your own business often gives more security than working in the corporate environment. Many of us do not have everything it takes to do a ground zero startup. However, that can change dramatically if you consider owning a franchise. This takes a lot of the risk out of business ownership and still preserves most all of the advantages of business ownership.
Carl Gerhardt is a 30-year veteran of entrepreneurship and is retired chairman of Alliance Franchise Brands. He is currently a consultant with FranNet a company that matches individuals wanting to own their own business with franchise opportunities. Carl is also a volunteer with SCORE offering free counseling for small business entrepreneurs.cgerhardt@frannet.com.
