Worship

Business NotesI was at a get together of many old friends and acquaintances this past weekend.  All of us gathered together were women, most straddling midlife in various and sundry situations, personally and professionally. Of the 35 or so of us, most are employees in a professional capacity working in privately-held businesses,  non-profit organizations, or public institutions, one woman recently retired, and three of us are self-employed.   I had an interesting conversation with a friend, Anne, who was an HR executive, and laid off by her employer six months ago. 

She decided not to panic and to look carefully for the right situation.  She’s been interviewing for positions, locally and nationally, similar to her last employment gig. She has also begun a process that includes a re-evaluation of her life path.  Anne began really examining how she wants to invest her energies in her work life in the years to come.  Having left the corporate world, she feels free to wonder whether she might want to own her own business.  Among other options, she’s begun looking at different franchises to purchase.

I suggested that she seriously consider learning more about her personal profile to determine whether it includes entrepreneurial characteristics.  My guess is that she doesn’t fit that mold, or she would have owned her own business, or worked as an independent contractor or consultant, years ago. 

I bring this up because with every recession, and resulting rise in unemployment, comes a surge of new business owners who enter the marketplace by necessity rather than by choice. So while Anne is feeling a breath of freedom in exploring her options, I wonder how she’d feel in a couple of years after she takes the plunge, puts her savings, perhaps rolls her 401K into buying a franchise, or uses her home as collateral for a business loan, and becomes one of the dire statistics of new business failures..

Having worked with a number of troubled companies over the past several years, I recommend to any of you who have enjoyed (or not!) working for many years as an employee, and who are now considering starting a new business venture – first learn more about yourself.  Do you have an entrepreneurial profile?  What kind of leadership skills do you have?  Financial, sales and marketing acumen?  A small business owner typically is the chief cook and bottle washer – are you willing to work 60- to 80-hour weeks?  Are you decisive?  Independent? Self-confident?  Are you a lifelong learner?  If you are contemplating a business as a service provider, can you live with little income while you develop a clientele? 

Are you comfortable with risk?  Are you comfortable with the probability of having to use the equity in your home as collateral for your business loan, line of credit, or future necessary capital expenditures?  Do you have enough financial wherewithal to finance a business start-up that may run in the red for up to three years?  Or to do without a paycheck for an extended period of time? 

These, and many more, are the kinds of risks that every small business owner may face in any given year.  As Anne contemplates her next move while still collecting unemployment, I forgot to remind her that a business owner isn’t able to collect unemployment if her business fails.  To a classic entrepreneur, the comfort of a safety net that an unemployment check provides can’t compare to the satisfaction  of marching to one’s own drum.  If that alone resonates with you, it’s only a starting point.  If you are contemplating the dramatic lifestyle change from employee to employer, please, please, take enough time to uncover every stone in examining your heart, mind, and gut before taking the plunge into self-employment, and before putting at risk any of your assets that you do not believe you can afford to lose.


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