| Topic Name: |
Corporate or Entrepreneurship? |
| Message Name: |
Entrepreneur Success |
| Date Posted: |
11/10/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
Santa brought an early pink slip for the holidays. My company just announce dthe 6th round of layoffs, and I didn??t make the cut. At this point, I am trying to map out my next move, and I am not sure that a new job is the right answer. I am leaning more towards the entrepreneurship path. These next 10 - 15 years are the prime career growth years for me (age early 30??s), and I don't want to get cut when I am 55 because of an economic down cycle, and then be in a difficult situation where I am to expensive for roles at my level etc. If you build a business, you at least have a base for which to grow and operate for as long as your talents, services, or products maintain value.
I am thinking about it more in terms of the long term. If you pick something you LOVE TO DO and can learn from I think your downside is reduced. I don??t believe in ??I have this killer idea?? mode. I think one would need to identify a space, and target that space for the long term. Then, identify opportunities within that space to earn money and grow a company. If you set out to build a company within 1-2 years, I think you are reducing your likelihood of success. To me, it is at least a 10 15 year commitment. Start small, DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE, shoot straight, grow slow, and aim high.
Many folks I have discussed this with automatically get hung up on the ??idea.?? To me it is less about the idea and more about the space since over time, you will likely maneuver around to harvest opportunities that come and go.
What I am looking for is a sense that there is a reasonable probability of success. I have heard the 9 out of 10 new businesses fail within the first 3 years??but that statistic probably includes the entire new business population from a small nail salon to Bubba??s pig farm. I would be interested to learn what the success rate for Harvard (or insert any elite school or company) MBAs is. That would give me a ??high water mark?? for the probability of success. I then could back off that and get a reasonable projection for a reasonably intelligent person??s probability of success.
Any thoughts? Or suggestions? |
| Message: |
Dear pk,
I like your attitude: do what you LOVE! It sure makes a difference.
The last stat I saw was 80% on small biz failures, but here's the important part: find out WHY they failed (one big reason is under-financed). What are the other reasons? Bad biz plan? No biz plan? Didn't do market research? Didn't differentiate themselves from the competition? Start with the SBA web site for info.
I'll bet that most of them were "reasonably intelligent" people who failed to plan correctly. So your task is to learn from all those mistakes!
Best of luck to you,
Jane
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