Entrepreneurialism Information

Are You Sure You Want To Start Your Own Business? Part Two of a Series


Why, exactly, do you want to go into business for yourself?

  • Is it because you cannot stand the thought of working for an uptight, demanding, and perfectly dreadful boss?

  • Is it because you cannot bear the thought of going through another downsizing or restructuring, knowing that your job could be on the line?

  • Is it because you want to be your own boss, call your own shots, or see more up side in your earning potential, with the possibility of financial self-sufficiency?
These are all good reasons for wanting to go into business. In fact, studies have shown that many entrepreneurs get their start due to some life-altering experience such as losing a job or finally walking away from a dead-end job or a demoralizing work environment.

It is amazing how creative, resourceful, and innovative you can be when, finally, you reach the edge and find yourself in a survival situation professionally. In times like this, the entrepreneurial spirit comes alive and you figure out that you can simply do it on your own.

Does dissatisfaction alone in some area of your life constitute reason enough to venture into business and the life of entrepreneurship? Many potential entrepreneurs get to this bridge and never cross because they do not know how to discover and unleash the entrepreneur within himself or herself.

Many people resist giving credence to their entrepreneurial tendencies no matter what the circumstances, ignoring the potential for self-expression, independence and the fulfillment of their dreams. Herein resides the real tragedy. Many people experience paralysis from fear of the unknown and fear of failure. Consequently, they never pursue entrepreneurship and the potential freedom that it can bring to their lives.

Although entrepreneurship appears to offer many advantages for personal and professional growth and accomplishment, why is it that so many new entrepreneurs fail? In fact, studies have shown us that out of every 100 entrepreneurs who start their own businesses, 14 will succeed and a whopping 86 will fail in the first five years. The odds, so to speak, are stacked against you as a nascent entrepreneur. Therefore, if you are contemplating starting your own business you should take it very seriously.

The two biggest reasons people fail in a new business are:

  • they don't know what they are doing, and

  • their business is undercapitalized. When we say they don't know what they are doing, we mean they literally don't know what they are doing in terms of running a business day in and day out. It also makes perfect sense that a new business might be undercapitalized (not having enough working capital to run the business). In fact, many new entrepreneurs, who don't know what they are doing have a hard time finding either equity or debt capital for the reason that lending institutions and savvy investors typically do not like to give money to people who don't know what they are doing in business.

    In order to improve your chances of beating the odds, what is important is that you educate yourself about business development. There certainly is enough information out there on how to start and run a small business. For instance, if you go to Amazon.com and type in a search for books on 'Entrepreneurship'' alone, you will have over 21,000 book choices. Nevertheless, where does one start in deciding what to read, who to listen to, and what to implement?

    In the more than 55 years of combined experience in the world of business that my wife and I have had, and working with hundreds of hopeful entrepreneurs, we discovered four basic stages to business development that every entrepreneur must go through to enhance their chances for business success.

  • Reflect

  • Envision

  • Create

  • Build Most entrepreneurs, especially the 86 that fail, usually skip one or more of these essential stages of business development and find themselves in a heap of trouble before they know it. Typically, a new entrepreneur will get and idea (envision) and go straight to market (build). They simply unknowingly skip the 'reflect' and 'create' stages, and charge into business with an 'if-I-work-hard-enough' attitude everything will be all right.

    Well, statistically we know that not everything is all right and it does not work.

    About The Author

    Charles and Holly Egner are veteran entrepreneurs. They have trained, coached, and mentored hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs. Their last entrepreneurial venture sold for just under $400 million in 1999. BuildOnYourDreams.com was founded to help promising entrepreneurs to build the business of their dreams. For their free Life Strategy Planning Teleseminar, visit http://www.BuildOnYourDreams.com today.


    MORE RESOURCES:

    Property BEE crunch time: role for advocacy and entrepreneurialism ...
    eProp.co.za, South Africa - Jul 23, 2008
    SAIBPP’s campaign, as reflected in a recent newsletter, is to create an awareness to aspiring and potential black entrepreneurs , of key Government and ...


    Entrepreneurial women of colour up for awards
    Women in Technology, UK - 8 hours ago
    ... will be among the prizes on offer when the winners are announced on November 20th, during Enterprise Week, a national celebration of entrepreneurialism. ...


    Attacking the stupidity of unfettered gun ownership
    Casa Grande Valley Newspapers, AZ - Jul 24, 2008
    Most American ingenuity and entrepreneurialism is spent figuring out how to get $30 million bonuses from companies the bonusees have just run into the ...


    You’ve heard of road rage. You’ve heard of PMT. Now there’s e-Rage.
    Real Business, UK - Jul 9, 2008
    A great British renaissance has been taking place. From Aberdeen to the West Country, the zing is back in manufacturing. It’s about time this spectacular ...


    College/University Association Presents Outstanding Member Award ...
    MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
    ... Marketing sales representatives participate in a training program that teaches them a wide range of skills related to sales and entrepreneurialism. ...


    Should we penalise firms that price-fix?
    nebusiness.co.uk, UK - Jul 22, 2008
    And if a company was to capture, say, 80% of its market, shouldn’t we be celebrating the management’s shrewd entrepreneurialism rather than sending for the ...


    Don’t Ride The ‘Doom & Gloom’ Bandwagon
    ZDNet UK, UK - Jul 18, 2008
    The spirit of entrepreneurialism has never been stronger than it is now in the UK with programs such as The Apprentice and Dragons Den. So all in all, ...


    Igniting Your Business Spark
    Gather.com, MA - Jul 9, 2008
    by Nazeer D. Entrepreneurialism and business go hand in hand, and igniting your initial business spark and passion is an important process in getting any ...


    MLive.com

    Terry Duperon: The balance of power, part 2
    MLive.com, MI - Jul 17, 2008
    All seven have it. Terry Duperon is president of Duperon Corp. in Saginaw and a speaker, author and educator on innovation and entrepreneurialism.


    Moneyweb

    The source of true power
    Moneyweb, South Africa - 8 hours ago
    The system doesn't encourage enough entrepreneurialism or allow people to think out the box. Children have their wings cut off and become carbon copy ...

    Entrepreneurialism - Google News

  • home | site map
    © 2006