WANTED: Individual to work long hours, invest own money and do all the work with no guarantee of pay.
With C-day fast approaching many people are looking forward to their office parties and a relaxing break for a few weeks.
Of course, that’s not the case for everyone. Some people will be using these few weeks to work; to burn the midnight oil, to craft marketing materials and draft business plans. And to do it all for no pay.
Funnily enough you don’t see that position advertised in the job centre all too often but entrepreneurship is a career option that more and more people are taking every year.
Despite our current economic downturn (and in some cases because of it), people are still planning and starting businesses.
Certainly, high-profile entrepreneurs and TV shows like The Dragon’s Den have helped make business ownership sexy.
Add to that stagnating public sector wage levels, the rise of franchising, more flexible working arrangements throughout the economy and the all but extinct notion of a ‘job for life’ and going it alone seems a pretty decent option.
But is running your own business all it’s cracked up to be?
For one thing, the ‘freedom’ of being the boss often comes at the cost of any possible social life. The security of a monthly paycheque is replaced by a constant effort to dodge the bank manager’s calls and eek one last payment out of your already melting credit card.
And what about those occasional ‘borrowings’ from the office stationery cupboard? Well, they’re not so fun when you’re the person who bought the stapler in the first place.
Not exactly, the Ferrari-driving, jet-set-living, high-flying lifestyle you might have dreamed about then.
Why people start businesses
Then again, most people who start businesses don’t do it for the flash car or the big house. The idea of the archetypal entrepreneur raising millions to start a business and conquer the world is rarely the case.
All sorts of people start businesses; young and old, well-off and working class, experienced and novice. And they do it for all sorts of different reasons too; ask any number of entrepreneurs the big question – ‘why?’ – and you’ll hear any number of different reasons.
‘I wanted to have some control’
‘I wanted something that suited my lifestyle better.’
‘I’m passionate about my business, I just love doing it’
‘I just couldn’t see myself working for someone else’
Those kinds of answers do have something in common though. The idea of ownership.
Simply put, people that want to own their own business do so precisely because it is their own business. It’s theirs to create and manage and run how they see fit. If something good comes of it – the car, the house, the well-earned holiday – it’s because they made it happen.
And, if things go wrong – at least they had some say in the matter. Why are business owners willing to work longer hours and run the risk of it all going pear-shaped? Because they’re doing it for their business.
And while they’re at it, they also deliver benefits for every single one of us.
Small businesses create jobs, they deliver the services we enjoy and the bars, cafes, shops and restaurants that make our cities growing and vibrant places.
While it’s great (and rare) to see big business delivering hundreds of jobs in one fell swoop - with the prerequisite photo call with ministers and council officials in tow - what we should really be encouraging and celebrating and championing is the individual with an idea and the willingness to make it work.
Unfortunately, that’s still not something we’re overly keen to do. All too often we’re faster to tear down and criticise than to build up and promote and are more concerned with finding the reasons ‘why not’ rather than encouraging the people who simply get on with it.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone but it can be for anyone. Anyone who’s willing to give it a go.
If that’s you, then let’s get started - we’ve got a lot of work to do in 2009.
