Why start your own business?
May 25th, 2009 by Bill
So, why should you start your own business? It would be so easy just to remain a run-of-the-mill employee, sit down, do what your told, day in and day out, every day for the rest of your life…..
…or…
You can DARE to be different, take charge, take control, take the wheel, and free yourself. Now, all of that being said, ponder the following questions:
- How secure do you feel in your job? Really, even in today’s economy?
- How often do you lose control of your personal time because of work?
- How often do you lose control of your work time because of personal items?
- How much enjoyment do you get out of your job? Are you doing what you love?
- Evaluate your boss. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being a Tyrannosaurus, how close to 10 does your boss get?
- Evaluate your leadership? On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being clueless, how close to 10 do they get?
- Is your business growing or shrinking? Why?
- Is your staff growing or shrinking? Why?
- Is your work managed by process and planning or driven by chaos and reaction?
- How many rounds of layoffs have you had in the last year? 2 years?
- What is the morale of your coworkers?
- How positive is your work environment? How flexible is the company?
- How did your last performance review go? Given your performance, was your cost of living increase (raise) adequate?
- How much vacation time do you get? Sick time?
Think about the answers to those questions. Now consider the answers to those questions if you are the boss.
Hold on now, don’t go quitting your job just yet. Perhaps you now realize that the world is slightly bigger than a 5×5 foot cubicle, however you still need to do a little planning. You still have financial obligations that must be met and you can’t just throw away your current bread and butter on a whim.
Until the next post where we start to frame in a strategy, consider the following:
- What is it that you’d love to do if money was no object?
- Do you have the skills and resources necessary to do what you love? If not, what would it take?
- Do you envision a market for what you’d love to do?
- What does your competition look like?
- What sort of time do you think you’d need to put into it to get it going initially? After 1 month? After 1 year?
Don’t let fear of the unknown prevent you from pursuing your dreams.
Keep in mind that your dreams can:
- Allow you to be excited for Mondays
- Go to sleep knowing that you’ll have a job when you wake up
- Become financially independent
- Have virtually unlimited vacation and personal time
- Become a master rather than a minion
- Grab the wheel and steer your own course through whatever waters you want to travel.
I’d like to close with two quotes, spend a few minutes thinking about them:
“Whether You Believe You Can, Or You Can’t, You Are Right”
Henry Ford
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
Check back next week and we’ll start planning our course together.