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I've recently caught the entrepreneurial bug. I finished a corporate internship in December which was pretty crappy. I was also in business school until the end of February. I dropped out because it was costing me an arm and a leg and I don't want to have 90k in student debt like my sister does. I also realized I don't want the suit and tie, excel chart, conference call life that was preparing me for.
I look at my future, and the prospect of doing the 9-5 corporate America grind for the next 45 years of my life terrifies me. I don't want to hate my job and just put up with it like the rest of the world. I don't want to go through hell so that I can live on the weekend. And I don't want my employer to be able to turn off my income stream at will. And I don't want to just be comfortable. I want to be rich. I want people to say "That guy made something from nothing".
The problem is, I know this is what most people want but consider it to be childish and unrealistic. I'm not some super genius. So I can't build the next Facebook. My sisters (whom I asked to brainstorm with me and help me come up with a family business), pretty much consider me a fool who needs to grow up and just accept that this is life. My grandmother and mother won't stop talking about how much of a bad idea it was to drop out of business school. And I'm currently unemployed. So life is looking dismal at the moment.
I have no problem getting a 9-5 for the time being....I just want something greater. I want to call the shots. Build my own brand. What are some opportunities for me? And where can I find other like minded individuals to build something with? And lastly...*sigh* what jobs should I be trying to secure in the mean time? I dread the thought of sales but I'll do it if necessary.
I've recently caught the entrepreneurial bug. I finished a corporate internship in December which was pretty crappy. I was also in business school until the end of February. I dropped out because it was costing me an arm and a leg and I don't want to have 90k in student debt like my sister does. I also realized I don't want the suit and tie, excel chart, conference call life that was preparing me for.
I look at my future, and the prospect of doing the 9-5 corporate America grind for the next 45 years of my life terrifies me. I don't want to hate my job and just put up with it like the rest of the world. I don't want to go through hell so that I can live on the weekend. And I don't want my employer to be able to turn off my income stream at will. And I don't want to just be comfortable. I want to be rich. I want people to say "That guy made something from nothing".
The problem is, I know this is what most people want but consider it to be childish and unrealistic. I'm not some super genius. So I can't build the next Facebook. My sisters (whom I asked to brainstorm with me and help me come up with a family business), pretty much consider me a fool who needs to grow up and just accept that this is life. My grandmother and mother won't stop talking about how much of a bad idea it was to drop out of business school. And I'm currently unemployed. So life is looking dismal at the moment.
I have no problem getting a 9-5 for the time being....I just want something greater. I want to call the shots. Build my own brand. What are some opportunities for me? And where can I find other like minded individuals to build something with? And lastly...*sigh* what jobs should I be trying to secure in the mean time? I dread the thought of sales but I'll do it if necessary.
This is common in those who have not experienced true need or come close to poverty. Thinking this way is a luxury.
If you really want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you should network like crazy with rich folks and business people who HAVE done what you're describing and who have earned that luxury.
Take a job that puts you in the company of risk-takers. Small, privately owned companies often are led by entrepreneurial types because it takes that attitude to compete against "the big boys" these days. Learn from them. Get your degree. It doesn't have to cost $90K. Some schools even have entrepreneurship programs.
And SAVE SAVE SAVE. It takes much more than a good idea to own a successful business these days.
If you want more of a business school without the price then by all means look at the nopaymba site. personalmba.com is also a good site as it points out about 100 business books which he argues is equal to having that degree.
There's never been really a better time to start a business. Yes some might argue about regulations and taxes but every owner would say the same.
I would argue the combination of crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, 3d printers, social media and apps will dramatically lower the costs of production, marketing and distribution.
In some respects I can also say that regulations that when anticipate can create marketing opportunities. For example in Mass we have a new law going into effect this fall mandating the composting of food wastes. Now it waits until it gets into the level of say a large dining hall, university, hotel etc. So who does the export of the waste, composts it...sells it etc is being debated.
Learning to sell means being able to view things from all angles of the consumer and addressing those concerns etc.
To start a business you need CAPITAL, RESERVE CAPITAL, and/or a LINE OF CREDIT.
Money is the blood of any business, as soon as it dries up, it dies. In addition to needing mucho dinero, you need the CONNECTIONS! People that will help you succeed, give you the expertise you need, know a reliable supplier that will give you a good deal, know a politician or government employee that will "streamline" your government permits and deal with regulators, etc..
If you don't have the connections and money, good luck! Let me know what you decide to do and how things work out for you. A daily or even weekly update would be great. Let us know what you accomplish or don't accomplish. Usually threads like this just die off because the OP has given up and is too embarrassed to respond.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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If it was easy to become rich owning a business there would be a lot less people posting here that they are broke and having trouble finding a job. I had a business for 16 years, and while I made a comfortable living and raised 3 kids I didn't get rich on it. When I started I had saved about $70,000 to pay for equipment, materials and supplies, rent, utilities, licenses and taxes and the rest, plus having money to live on, with a house payment and 5 mouths to feed. My business was doing something I had done before and was well qualified for, and in an area with plenty of competitors. Sales may or may not be the best kind of job to prepare you. Before making that determination you need to decide on the business. Sales can be helpful to many retail businesses but getting a job selling insurance may not help you sell widgets. The most important skills are in writing a business plan, doing a budget for revenue and expense, establishing systems for accounting, inventory control, understanding employment law and federal/state/local regulations, what kinds of business insurance you will need, whether to incorporate or not.
I have to be honest - while dropping out of school may have saved you the debt up front, it does make it harder to get a job since so many places expect a degree.
I think the first thing is to try to find a job, even if it is a boring 9-5 one, that can get you some money and experience. Anything will do since the reality is that if you want to start your own business you will need money. Even if it is something really inexpensive, you still need money to get it going, pay taxes, pay various fees and such, etc.
I'm just going to echo what others have said, which is that you need a lot of money to start a business. You probably should finish school and work hard to find a high paying job when you graduate. Then, save every penny you have. When you have $200,000+ in the bank, then you can get serious about opening a business.
What you have on your side is youth. You're probably living at home/with relatives and don't have a lot of extra expenses. That's ideal for risking everything to start a business because you may not succeed (most small businesses don't). It's much harder to risk everything when you have a lot more. I know I really want to start a business full-time (I already have a part time business), but I am afraid to do it because I don't want to lose my house and everything else I've worked for. I don't want to do that to my husband, either. He doesn't want to end up living with one of our parents or having to sell our house so that instead of working 9 to 5 at a bank I can work 100 hours a week as a business owner.
By the way, that's the other thing to consider... owning your own business will probably entail much longer hours than working for someone else will. When I say I've seriously considered opening a full time business, I mean it. I spent hundreds of hours analzying a couple opportunities last year. In each case the risk was high and the projected earning after 2 years were about half what I am making now working for someone else. Also, the time requirement was about twice as much as I work now. The more research I did the worse the whole proposition looked, honestly. I guess that why I've decided to keep my day job and side businesses instead. This way I have a fallback if everything goes to hell with my day job, but until then I can work my 40 hours and then completely forget about work when I'm not here.
Like others said, you need $ - how much depends on the business you are plan to start...which is a kind of critical detail that you did not mention. It would be fu to burn you on but you don't have to mention what you plan to do...but you should at least mention that you have a plan of selling something, offering a service, etc. And you should have an edge of course, you know, that "competitive advantage" you would have learned about in business school.
You should also have a sales type of mind, be charismatic, and a host of other things. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to discourage you but to be realistic, it ain't easy.
For me it's the corporate life. And it's not a living hell as you allude. I make decent money (in the low 6 figures), have great benefits. Hours aren't terrible, etc. I enjoy the work and the people I work with, and many do. I think you aren't considering the benefits of being an employee and are also not considering the down sides of being a business owner. It's not like I've had jobs I didn't like but to some extent, you can make the life you want being a worker bee. And it can be a much more pleasant existence than owning a business.
Looks like the OP might have realized that he has no money or connections and has given up already.
He probably caught the bug by reading one of the books or blogs written by people who earn their money by writing books or blogs targeted at wannabe entrepreneurs. They know there are a lot of people that want "fast cash", "be there own boss", and "screw the 9-5" so they write a book or blog that tells them exactly what they want to hear. The writers earn their money this way, but the buyer is usually left with nothing more than being out time from reading and money from buying the book.
Most people aren't cut out to be entrepreneurs which is precisely why there are substantially more employees than business owners. There is even an entire industry dedicated to "teaching" people how to become entrepreneurs. Does anyone remember the real estate "gurus" teaching people to get rich flipping real estate before the 2008-2009 crash? What about the technology stock "gurus" before the 2000 bubble?
Looks like the OP might have realized that he has no money or connections and has given up already.
He probably caught the bug by reading one of the books or blogs written by people who earn their money by writing books or blogs targeted at wannabe entrepreneurs. They know there are a lot of people that want "fast cash", "be there own boss", and "screw the 9-5" so they write a book or blog that tells them exactly what they want to hear. The writers earn their money this way, but the buyer is usually left with nothing more than being out time from reading and money from buying the book.
Most people aren't cut out to be entrepreneurs which is precisely why there are substantially more employees than business owners. There is even an entire industry dedicated to "teaching" people how to become entrepreneurs. Does anyone remember the real estate "gurus" teaching people to get rich flipping real estate before the 2008-2009 crash? What about the technology stock "gurus" before the 2000 bubble?
Agreed.
Heck, I've been seeing a comeback in those real estate flipping scams on TV lately - sign up now and attend Joe Sleazebag's live event, and he'll tell you how to flip properties without using any of your own money! Their return to me indicates that the real estate bubble is not done crashing.
Also, another scam area is that of "career coaches" and such who love to sell books and classes to the unemployed to try to convince them that some magical change in their own lives will fix the problems. It's just another distraction from the real issue - the lack of jobs.
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