There's been so much written about how hard it is to start a company and to continue to run it successfully. I couldn't agree more. If you really want to run your own business, be aware of the endless work and constant struggle. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Yet I'm a bit tired of everyone repeating again and again how hard it is.
Let me qualify that comment since I'm supporting Chris's point. I was just thinking about this the other day in regards to start-ups. We're all spoiled. The working world, if you really think about it, has become easy. If you make a bit of effort, you can always find "a job". Outside of being physically or mentally incapacitated, anyone can do it. The way the system is set up, in the Western World you are super safe as an employee and always have alternative options. Your boss can hardly do anything to you outside of fire you and even that's hard nowadays with all the lawsuits everywhere. Let's think back about a hundred years. Being "employed" meant most likely a factory job of some sort which without going into much detail sucked. Read some books about "work" back then and you'll start loving your day job real quick. Further, unless you moved to the "big city", your options for work were few and far between. Most likely you were on the farm and that was the hardest start-up of them all. God awful working hours and you didn't give a shit about making payroll. You prayed to god that you could eat regularly and you had zero other options.
Further, starting companies used to be extremely hard. Not only did you need "space", you were most likely manufacturing something. This meant you needed machinery. Thereafter, you needed people to operate this machinery. Finally you had to front all the material costs before you could sell something. People who weren't already somewhat successful had no chance of every really starting a business. Banks wouldn't lend to you and the competition could easily stifle any progress you made quite easily once you were out of the gate. Corruption was extensive hence playing fair didn't work all too well either. Not much of a choice.
Let's look at today's alternatives. You have a ton of choices. These "alternatives" are what makes running start-ups hard. If you go the usual path, you'll go to college, study something your folks probably recommended and then follow a pre-set career path. Yet, if you don't like that you can always go laterally into another career. All possible nowadays. Or you'll skip college, learn a trade somewhere and potentially work your way up a career ladder where you'll eventually even be managing people working for you. Finally, you can choose to be an entrepreneur. In the world I talk about, you go out and buy a laptop, a mobile phone and find some friends. You can thereafter be up and running. For potentially ยข5k you can have a working business. Regardless of what you choose, to be successful in this day and age, you have to work your ass of. When you are an entrepreneur, are about to miss your payroll, haven't had vacation in months or years and your product just isn't innovative enough, you start thinking about all your "alternatives". You DON't have to be doing this. It's HARD and often not as fun as it seemed when you were reading TechCrunch and seeing everyone become millionaires.
It's all a choice. If, as Chris wrote via the link up top, you can't imagine being happy doing anything else but starting companies, go for it. If not, go do something else. Just don't constantly sweat the alternatives as this will drive you nuts! AND, just think, running that online business sure beats shoveling shit any day of the week!
Job responsibilities will help us boost our careers.
http://www.jobresponsibilities.org
Posted by: Jaylen Watkins | December 08, 2011 at 10:34 AM