I know, it’s odd advice for me to give you considering this blog is ultimately about starting a business, but don’t start a business. You probably don’t really want to start a business anyway. Go on ask yourself, why am I reading this? Do I really want to start a business?
Did you ask yourself that? Were you honest? Come on tell the truth now. If you’re really honest with yourself you’ve just admitted you don’t want to start a business. So what do you want to do? Why are you even reading this if not to start a business?
Well that I don’t know, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s one or more of the following reasons:
- You’re sick of working for that idiot/prat/sleezebag of a boss of yours.
- You’ve been made redundant.
- You’ve been fired by the aforementioned boss (apparently around 20% of entrepreneurs have so you’re in good company).
- You hate your job.
- You want a better work life balance.
- You want to change the world.
In short you want to be your own boss and take control of your own future and maybe even change the world. Great, congratulations on making that choice, believe me it’s much more fun, more rewarding and I for one would never voluntarily return to the rat race.
Wanting to be your own boss is very different from wanting to start a business. So if being your own boss is your goal don’t start a business, become an entrepreneur.
So what’s the difference between starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur?
Well if you start a business you’re tied to it, you’ll invest in it both financially and emotionally and if it turns out to be the wrong business, which it almost certainly will you’ll be reluctant to bin it and start another.
An entrepreneur however will continually be looking for opportunities, assessing risks and looking for ways to maximise the opportunities that they come across. As an entrepreneur you’re emotionally invested in your success, or the success of your vision, not that of a business, which might not be the right business for you.
Gary Frank was quick to recognise that he started the wrong business when he founded the Delicious Donut Company in 1997. By the end of the first year he realised no one wanted his donuts, so he soon stopped selling them and moved into muffins and flapjacks. The muffins really took off and the business grew. These days the Delicious Donut Company is known as The Fabulous Bakin’ Boys and sells it’s products through all the major supermarkets.
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
i agree on this that entrepreneurs are far sighted visionaries. not merely people out to make a quick buck or get out of something per say (eg current work).