Are You Entrepreneur Material?

The V.P. of the company I work for encourages everyone to read.  Whether it's in between taking customer calls on a slow day, like today, or if it's during your free time at home, reading is something he highly recommends as a way to "broaden your horizons".  It's not just any book, however, it has to be a book that is smart and business related.  A book that will make you think or invoke some sort of response.

I have already read two books and am in the middle of my third already.  The book I am currently reading is The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber.  Essentially, this business literature is a guide on how you really should look at starting a business and what most business owners do that cause their venture to fail.

I just finished reading Chapter 5, which talks about breaking out of your comfort zone as a business owner.  So far, the book has stated that most business owners are technicians, someone who knows a lot about the job of the industry and loves it so much they want to make it their own.  What these technicians-turned-business-owners fail to do is allow other people to do the job for them.  Which makes sense because these owners know the job inside and out.  When they see someone do the job and it isn't done perfectly, it upsets them enough to where they will just do the job themselves.

In the chapter I just finished reading, this business owner that the author is talking to, had hired an employee to do just about everything for them.  They had a bond with this employee because they both worked equally as hard.  When the employee finally quits because the compensation isn't enough, the business owner is astonished.  She doesn't know what to do because, now, it's just her running the place.  She tells the author that she is "afraid' to hire anyone else because she fears they might quit on her, too.

After I read this, I took a moment to process it.  Really?  This business owner doesn't want to hire anyone else to fill the open position because she's afraid that they are going to quit, too?  I had to think, is this someone that the author really talked to, or is he making this up for book content?  If this was a real conversation, and I was speaking with this woman, I would have told her that she doesn't need to be a business owner if that is one of her biggest fears.

Being in business, no matter how big or small your company is, you have to separate personal feelings from work.  If you have to fire someone because they are not doing a good job, then fire them.  Don't let them hang around simply because you two have become friends or you might feel sorry for them.  And if you don't take care of your employees to compensate for the hard work they put into your business, don't be surprised or offended if they quit.  In most cases, it's nothing personal towards you.  Usually, it's because their work-related needs were not met and they found something better.

If this happens and you don't hire someone else, your business is undoubtedly doomed.  No one, with the right business sense, would willingly do all of the work themselves to avoid employee conflict.  It happens all the time.  People quit or get fired for whatever reason.  It's the nature of the business world.  If you can't handle it, you don't need to be a business owner.

After going through this thought process, I then tend to wonder how many business owners are like this.  How many owners take on all of the work themselves, put too much emotional value into their employees, or don't allow their business to grow and evolve because they are afraid of change?  In a free market economy, it's impossible to tell a business owner that they must meet requirements before they can start a business because that defeats the purpose of a free market.  But in some cases, I think there should be some sort of evaluation of a business owner that can say whether or not they are allowed to own a business.

The book states that each year nearly 400,000 businesses close their doors because the business owner couldn't maintain or grow the company.  This puts people out of work, and if business loans are involved, makes the owner's debt outstanding.  In essence, it's a beautiful tragedy.  We have the freedom to start a business if we're passionate about something or have the desire to better our financial standings.  But we don't realize what actually goes into starting a business until it's actually done.  And, according to how many businesses close each year, we don't have the willpower, knowledge, or understanding on how to keep a business running through the tough evolving struggle.

Not every business will immediately take off.  Sometimes, it takes 10 years before you actually see exponential growth.  And because the consumer market can be fickle, if you're not ready to adapt to change then you're setting yourself up for failure.  So, if you're thinking about starting a small business, you might want to think about these following questions:

• Can you remove yourself from the emotional aspect of a business relationship with your employees in case they quit or you have to fire them?
• Can you allow your employees to do their job without you standing over their shoulder?  They might not do it perfectly, or to your exact standards, but if they are getting the job done and to the customer's satisfaction without hurting the business then you should see it as no harm done.
• Can you allow your business to evolve with the consumers' needs?  
• How well do you adapt to change?  Because the business world, big or small, is always and forever changing.

So, are you entrepreneur material?