In my Enterprise blog this week, I decided it was time to get personal with some cold, hard truths about life as an entrepreneur.
Recently, an aspiring entrepreneur cornered me at a party, keen to run his new business idea past me. He swore me to secrecy, ensuring that I wouldn’t tell anyone the details of his cunning plan because he thought it was so unique (it wasn’t). He imagined everyone would rush out and start a similar business once they found out about his idea (not likely).
Buoyed by the party atmosphere, I told him his idea was great and that he should run with it. Hey, I was in a good mood, I didn’t want to shoot down his enthusiasm and, to be honest, I was too busy trying to find more tomato and goat’s cheese tart that I didn’t feel we had the time to analyse his entire business plan (which he had in the car).
Like many people on the cusp of entrepreneurship, this man – we’ll call him Tom (but of course I can’t tell you his real name because of my oath of silence) – was in a pretty decent corporate job. However, after 10 years climbing the corporate ladder, he was over it. Tom had been wavering on his new business idea for about a year.
He could taste the excitement and thrill of building his very own business. But he was also constantly seduced back into the comfort of his cushy corporate job. Security, office mates, superannuation, company work trips and Friday night drinks – on the company tab.
When I finally found the waiter who had been hiding the tomato and goat’s cheese tarts from me (yes, I practically took the entire tray away from him), I wondered whether Tom would actually take the plunge into life as an entrepreneur. By this time, I think Tom was off to his car to retrieve his business plan.
I realised that if I was being really honest – and was not distracted by food – I should have probably told him the following.
Read the rest of the post here
Posted on 29 July 2011
