Selling lemonade is entrepreneurship in it’s most basic form.
My Dad is an entrepreneur in the traditional sense. He started his own business back in the 80′s, and it’s still running today. He took it from a one man show to a company that is a source of employment for the local community, and had to ride all of the ups and downs in between.
I still remember when he would work late, on Saturdays and Sundays. When I was little it seemed like he never stopped working. He did it all, taking care of everything from sales, marketing, accounting, product development, and the manufacturing process. I also remember the rewards. The good years were good, and a lot of fun for us kids.
This was my experience with entrepreneurship from a young age: It takes a lot of work, countless overtime hours, but if it succeeds, the fruits of that labour are sweet.
Do You Have What it Takes to Run a Business?
One thing I definitely remember growing up with a business owner in the house was the responsibility of it all. My Dad would get calls at 10pm in the middle of winter on a Friday night, from someone who needed help with the product he had sold them. No matter what time it was, he always went, because he was responsible for the reputation of his company.
Becoming an entrepreneur takes a ton of responsibility. There’s no paycheque at the end of the week unless you make it happen.
I’m Not Sure I Have What It Takes
Starting your own business today has changed. I’ve heard of dozens of stories of people making their web endeavors their full time job. Some people, like my friend Michelle from Making Sense of Cents, do so through staff writing and blogging, but also maintain a full time job . Other people, like this guy, make a comfortable living as internet marketers, or by running multiple websites. Despite the medium of entrepreneurship changing, the important things are still the same – it takes a lot of work, a healthy amount of risk, and a ton of responsibility.
I think I’m slowly realizing that I’m not cut out to be an entrepreneur or any type of small business owner. I used to think I’d be great at it, since I grew up with it, but lately I’ve been questioning that. It’s not the workload that bothers me or the need to have many different skills, it’s the unknown.
This last year or so I’ve come to realize that I do not deal with the unknown well. I don’t think I could handle not knowing if business was going to be steady, about to drop off, or about to pick up. I couldn’t handle not being able to forecast my income very far in advance. I don’t do well with uncertainty. On top of that, I don’t think I could handle being responsible for the well being of employees, that’s too much pressure!
I always thought that I would end up running a business of my own, but now I’m not so sure. The prospect of that used to seem exciting and thrilling. In retrospect that was probably because I was safe at school where I was insulated from the actual realities of self employment. Now that I’m out in the real world, I love my steady paycheque, and I love what I do.
Hmm, this is going to require some further analysis. But that’s for another post.
Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, are you?