10 Sure Fire Signs That You Should
Leave the Rat Race and Embrace Your Entrepreneurial Spirit
By
Bizymoms
There are many of us who
have that proverbial entrepreneurial fire in the belly, but
sometimes we just tend to miss the signs. If the constraints of your
job are getting too much for you to handle, perhaps you ought to
look for the signs whether it is your natural entrepreneurial spirit
that is stifling you in a typical “9 to 5” routine that offers
little excitement and a lot of bureaucracy and boredom.
Here are 10 sure fire
signs that should tell you that it is time to get out of the rat
race and embrace your entrepreneurial spirit:
-
You do not get repelled
at the thought of becoming a “work at home” dad or mom. You are
mentally prepared to leave the frills of an office environment
and ready to start small, even from your home and without any
support staff or fancy overheads that you could afford at your
job.
-
You have a family history of entrepreneurship. It could be your
parents or even your grandparents who were entrepreneurs in
their own right. Perhaps in your younger days there was a time
when you imagined yourself becoming an entrepreneur one day just
like them, and now that thought keeps revisiting you.
-
You are not passionate in your current job, and in fact at
previous places of employment you have remained unenthusiastic.
Even the frequent change of jobs has not been able to help you
find the “right” job for you.
-
You are excited, not in the office environment, but out in the
marketplace where you meet customers. You like to get involved
with the customers’ problems and solve them with a personal
interest, quite unlike your dull behavior at the office.
-
You dislike taking orders from your superiors and working within
the prescribed set of parameters. You like to set your own pace
of work and develop your own style of functioning.
-
You get excited about new business ideas, and like to be
innovative even if your employers are conservative and do not
agree to your out-of-the-box proposals.
-
You have discussed the idea of starting out on your own with
your family and friends frequently. The steam of this idea has
refused to fizzle out, and you are constantly thinking about it.
-
You have saved enough money that is required to start a small
business. You do not like to fritter away your savings on
luxuries, and have rather kept the money in a secret hope of
providing fuel to your entrepreneurial ambitions someday.
-
You do not mind working hard and there is no laziness or
lethargy in your approach towards work. However, it is the lack
of independence and the politics at work that tires you down.
-
You are a natural at creating a network of friends,
acquaintances and clients. You are extrovert by nature and like
to create new opportunities out of your networks.
If you find some or all of the above-mentioned signs matching
with your personal profile, perhaps you ought to consider giving up
your comfort zone at your current job, and take a plunge into the
challenging, uncharted waters of entrepreneurship.
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Eight Things I Wish I’d Known Before I
Started a Business
It is when we all play safe that we
create a world of utmost insecurity.
~ Dag Hammerskjold
When I started my first business, I
didn't know another self-employed person. There also was no Internet
and not many books that were written for someone wanting to create a
one-person operation. It was all trial and error...lots of error.
Today there are abundant resources, but
some of the most important things I learned still aren't being
acknowledged. Here are eight things I wish I had known sooner.
-
The business you start out with is
not the business you end up with.
By it's very nature, business is an evolutionary process. As you
change and grow—and as the marketplace changes and grows—you'll
make adjustments. The good news is that you can get started
wherever and whenever you want without having to know every
detail. Be willing for your business to deliver pleasant
surprises.
-
Refuse to take advice from
uninformed sources It's
easy when you're filled with self-doubt to listen to
dreambashers. Don't do it. And don't solicit advice from those
who have failed. It's amazing to me how often I talk to people
who have abandoned a great idea because someone who knew nothing
about their business (and probably wasn't even an entrepreneur
themselves) talked them out of it.
-
Know the difference between an
expense and an investment.
Many new self-bossers see any outlay of money as an expense.
While your business will have costs associated with running it,
spending money now to produce a greater good in the future is an
investment. Your money needs to go to both.
-
What you don't know can be
learned. Part of building
a successful business is determining which parts of it make your
heart sing and which make your heart sink. Once you know that,
you can farm out the parts that you're not good at. Equally
important is learning how to research your ideas and connect
with informed sources. If you operate on the assumption that you
can acquire the information and skills you need at every stage
of development, you'll always have the pleasure of being a
voluntary student.
-
Personal growth is a daily
activity. Paul Hawken
says, "Being in business is not about making money. It's a way
to become who you are." I became an entrepreneur because I was
curious about what I could become. Self-employment continues to
be my best teacher. There's a basic truth you need to keep in
mind: you can't outperform your self-image. In order for your
enterprise to reach it's fullest potential, you have to reach
yours. An occasional seminar or personal growth book or CD isn't
going to have the impact that daily work on your self will.
Happily, there's an abundance of tools to help you do just that.
-
Don’t confuse a project with a
dream. Your dreams are
your ultimate destination; a project is a step along the way.
Too many people use a project failure as an excuse to abandon
their dreams. Know the difference.
-
Patience is your best friend.
There's a fine line between being patient and being a
procrastinator. It seems to me that what many people call
failure is simply running out of patience, giving up before
their idea had a chance to blossom. For most entrepreneurs,
patience is an on-going challenge.
-
Know the difference between taking
a risk and taking a calculated risk.
Timid people who are not self-bossers
think that you're a wild person jeopardizing your family and
finances. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Studies have
shown that successful entrepreneurs take risks, but they're
cautious, calculated ones based on research—and intuition. Part
of the appeal and adventure of being joyfully jobless is not
always knowing exactly how things will turn out.
Return to the Top
Feeding Your Joyfully
Jobless Spirit
Entrepreneur is not a job title. It’s
the state of mind
of people who want to change the world.
~ Guy Kawasaki
My definition of job security is having a
strong, healthy entrepreneurial spirit. That can only occur if you
feed yours regularly with activities and thoughts that are
nurturing. Here are some of my favorite ways to do just that.
 Give
yourself a change of scenery
It may be efficient for factories to standardize their production
lines, but our creative selves thrive on variety. Take a different
route when running errands, take a sabbatical, take a vacation, take
your laptop to the park. You can be productive without being
routine.
Tithe your time.
Don’t just send a check to support things you care about. Find ways
to share your time. Joe started his own insurance agency and decided
he’d spend 10% of his time doing volunteer work. Eventually, he
worked his way up to 50% volunteer time. Did his business suffer?
Not at all. He made so many contacts along the way that his
insurance business grew naturally. This is another way to back up
your personal values with action.
Create a research project.
What would you like to learn more about? Look for a way to fund your
research. Start by checking the grant directories at your local
library. You may have a project that someone is eager to fund. Get
clear about how this will enhance you personally and
entrepreneurially. You could find yourself photographing mosaics in
Morocco or interviewing artisans in Ecuador. Use your imagination to
come up with a fresh research project that excites you.
Share what you already know.
Write a tip sheet and get it published—or publish it yourself and
distribute it. Mentor a new entrepreneur or a kid. Put your
experiences together and teach a seminar. There’s no better
confidence builder than sharing your unique insights and
experiences.
Find great entrepreneurial stories.
On a recent flight, I read about a mother and her daughters who
started a fascinating business called Junk Gypsies. I was so
enchanted by their story that I logged onto their Web site the next
day and became a customer. There are thousands of inspiring stories
out there. Make it your hobby to find them. After all, it’s your
tribal history.
Offer praise.
Master the art of writing the exquisite fan letter. Let other people
know that you noticed. After I read Monica Wood’s breathtaking novel
Any Bitter Thing, I began planning a review for my
local library Web site as well as Amazon. And the author deserves a
letter of thanks as well, I decided, to let her know that her
writing has touched her reader. Catch others doing something good
and let them know you noticed. It’s good for them and good for your
soul.
Learn how to synthesize ideas.
We should have learned how to do this in school, but I fear many of
us haven’t. For instance, I was reading Jim Miller’s Savvy Senior
column in my local paper. He was asked by a reader how to find a
reliable handyman. He offered dozens of suggestions. As I read what
he had to say, I thought that anyone wanting to have such a business
could find some great suggestions for marketing themselves using the
suggestions in Miller’s article. It’s equally important to look at
enterprises that are nothing like yours and figure out what you can
adapt from their way of doing things or their overall philosophy.
Attend with a friend.
I always like to see pairs of people showing up together in
seminars. I realize that sometimes a friend comes along hoping to
discourage their companion from doing anything foolish. However,
sharing a learning experience with an entrepreneurial friend can be
a great way to extend and deepen the lessons learned. There’s
nothing like building dreams with someone who gets it.
Record your journey.
Keep an illustrated journal of your entrepreneurial life. Don’t just
include the big events; do a photo essay of an ordinary day in the
life of your business. The sooner you begin this, the better. It
might become your grandchildren’s favorite storybook. Even more
importantly, when we record and acknowledge our own lives, it raises
our self-worth.
Return to the Top
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More Tips for
Living the Joyfully
Jobless Life
Teaching
from Experience: How to Get Started
Tips
for the Apprentice Expert
Running
a Tidy Ship
Collecting
Information
Consistent
Effort Leads to Consistent Visibility
What's
Your E.Q. (Entrepreneurial Quotient)?
Friendly
Fearbashers
A
Few Thoughts on Health Insurance
A
Habitat Guide for Lifelong Learners
Getting
the Most Out of a Seminar or Class
Banishing
the Money Dragon
Why
I Will Never Have a Job
Finding
Your Perfect Place
Running a Tidy Ship
5
Great Perks for Self-Bossers
Welcoming
Customers
Beating
the Work Alone Blues
Writing
Is a Business First and Foremost
Top
10 Signs That You Need a Marketing Plan
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