The reasons are many for exploration of embarking on an entrepreneurial journey, all of them honourable and admirable.
But I’m mindful this week of the cloak of uncertainty that enshrouds that journey, compelling me to stand on my soapbox and ask this question: “Are you really ready for entrepreneurship?”
Some harsh realities about life when entertaining the thought of becoming entrepreneurial that never leaves my thoughts are about criticism.
The only way to not be criticized is to do nothing. To say nothing. To be nothing.
A lesson new entrepreneurs often find difficult to talk about is this: No matter what you do or how well you do it, there will always be people who will criticize—don’t like the way you conduct your venture, don’t like your product or service idea.
It’s a truth of entrepreneurship that all of us in the entrepreneurial world must accept and embrace.
I love entrepreneurs. They are the folks who make our society great. They are the folks who will correct what is wrong, and make good things even better for the rest of us.
To anyone giving their blood, sweat and tears to a perceived opportunity, to anyone rocking the boat to do something many would see energy drain out of us, to the people who will shake up the norm and give us new possibilities, those people have my utmost respect and appreciation.
So how do you determine your readiness to become a budding entrepreneur. Every year, thousands of people make that transition from employee, student, housewife, new immigrant, retired or disabled to pursue their own business idea. While many succeed, there are also many who fail.
The failure often can be cited to not being ready to embrace the entrepreneurial challenge.
Quitting a full-time job to launch an entrepreneurial venture isn’t something to be taken lightly. Even if self-assessment tests indicate you’ve got the right personality for entrepreneurial success, that still doesn’t mean you’re ready to become one at a given point in your life.
You need to address some tough questions of yourself: Do I have enough money? Is my family ready for the change? Does the market need a service or product such as I am embracing as my opportunity entry?
Most successful entrepreneurs recall a sense of urgency that prompted them to begin their journey beyond desire and actually a necessity.
Many say they knew when the time was right for them to begin while others say that getting fired, laid off or passed over for promotion fueled the fire of their entrepreneurial spirit.
The fundamental need to control one’s own destiny ranks very high on most entrepreneurs’ reasons for launching an entrepreneurial venture.
Often this need resonates so strongly that entrepreneurs will risk family, future and careers to become their own boss.
Translating into being unable to feel truly fulfilled working for someone else, these individuals can’t be happy taking orders in any fashion from someone higher in the pecking order.
Your reality check will be that once you’ve made the decision to break away on your own, there are some realities you need to address before you take that big step out on your own.
Conduct a thorough market research study, acquire enough cash in a well-crafted plan and discuss the decision with your family and loved ones. Recognize the rewards of entrepreneurial pursuit are not instantaneous. Be ready to defer gratification and make substantial sacrifices to ensure your rewards eventually come your way.
But understand this—it’s a rarity that one person has all the qualities needed to be successful in venture creation. Everyone has strong and weak points in their makeup. But, what is important is to recognize, acknowledge and understand those strengths and weaknesses and do something positively constructive about them.
I would like to leave you this week with, I hope, an inspiring quote that I pray will find its way to be embedded in your soul as you embark on your entrepreneurial journey:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how a strong man stumbles, or where a doer of deeds could have actually done them better.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again.
Because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who is at the best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
