Your name might not be Stelios, but have you ever thought about starting up your own company?
2009-05-07
It?s something most people have considered - if only as a dream ? yet few carry it through to reality and success. Like our friend from Easyjet, you need an entrepreneurial fire in your belly to start a business. Not everyone?s got what it takes.
There?s really no way to know for sure. But you can find common characteristics shared by those who are ready to give up the day job and go down the tough road that is starting a business. You don?t have to fit all these categories to be a good candidate for entrepreneurship. But it probably wouldn?t hurt.
Feel as if you?re stuck in a rut? Read on and find out whether you?ve got what it takes to strike out on your own?
1. You?ve gone as far as you can, or ? perhaps worse ? you?re not going anywhere at all
Sometimes the motivation to start afresh comes from having climbed to the top of the pile, looking around and asking, ?What?s next?? Early success can be wonderful, but early retirement can sometimes drive energetic and motivated people totally bonkers.
On the other hand, the drive to build something new can come from deciding that you?re stuck in the middle instead of at the top. Fear of stagnation can be a powerful motivator, especially if you?ve an idea for something that could be more interesting and more lucrative.
2. You come from a line of people who couldn?t work for someone else
People who are successful at establishing their own business often had parents who worked for themselves. It?s usually easier to get a job with another than to start your own; people who strike out by themselves were often set an example by their parents.
3. You?re a lousy employee
No need to sugarcoat this one. People who start their own businesses tend to have been fired from or quit more than one job. It?s not that you were laid off for lack of work ? you were cut loose, or you quit before they could fire you. Think of it as the marketplace telling you that the only person who can effectively motivate and manage you is yourself.
4. You see more that one definition of ?job security?
People who?ve managed to stay with one employer for 25 or 30 years look incredibly secure. But how many people are able to stay with one company their whole career these days? The reality is that our rapidly changing economy can make job security frighteningly fleeting. Maybe you?d find employing yourself, on your terms, preferable.
5. You?ve seriously thought about your business already
If you find yourself developing your own business ideas when you?re at work, or spend free time searching the web for related information then maybe it?s time to give your business idea some serious and structured thought.
If you?re going to start up then you?ve got to do the groundwork to figure out if there?s a market for your product or service. If you?re doing this without thinking about it then maybe there?s some mileage in that idea that struck you over lunch the other day.
6. You?ve got your family?s support
Starting a business is stressful under the best of circumstances. Trying to do it without the support of your spouse or other significant family members or friends would probably be unbearable. If they like what you?ve got to say then that?s a great sign.
7. You know you can?t do it alone
Running a successful business takes all sorts. Financial acumen, a flair for marketing, technical know-how and creativity are all essential.
It?s unlikely that you are going to excel at all of these things ? or at all of the tasks involved in running any business. Forget all that ?lone wolf? stuff. No matter how ?go-it-alone? your philosophy is, you?re going to need some help sometime.
The willingness to get that help ? having employees, partners or consultants for those areas in which you are not an expert ? is one indicator of likely future success. As development consultant Ernesto Sirolli writes on ?Ripples from the Zambezi,? ?No successful entrepreneur has ever succeeded alone. The person who is most capable of enlisting the support of others is the most likely to succeed."
