My husband was almost a partner for an entrepreneurship start up business in 2007. A friend of ours recognized his fantastic talent and asked him to join in with them to do a start up. We reviewed the business plan, looked into the financials and seriously considered jumping in. But I am a scaredy-cat. We have five kids, who at that moment in time were 14, 10, 9, 7 and 6. It was completely frightening to me to leave a stable good paying job and head into a completely unknown financial situation with 5 young children. We argued for weeks back and forth because he was so excited about the idea of being his own boss. In the end, he gave in to my fears and he bowed out of the opportunity. It created a rift in the friendship between our friend. I have no idea if the idea became a business, or if it did, if they were successful. From my perspective entrepreneurship is like walking a tight rope between success and failure. With a family and most especially with kids to feed, clothe and house, it is too risky in my opinion to take that leap. I view entrepreneurship very negatively and I really have no reason to. Nothing in my past, either with my family or anyone I personally know, affected me negatively with an entrepreneur, so I have no idea why I feel this way. I think if the opportunity was available to him today I would still be hesitant. There is no longer the excuse of young kids, as they are all adults now. I would struggle to find an excuse to refuse him. But I know in my heart I would reject it and I would find a way to not let it happen because of the fear of failure and loss of money.
I enrolled in ENT 3003 because it is required for my business degree plan. I will be brutally honest, I would never have even given this class a glance without being forced to take it. It is simply because I have no desire to become an entrepreneur. However, first day of class that was on video, Professor Pryor made me laugh, and I completely enjoyed the lecture. I like how he explains that entrepreneurship is a way of thinking. In the embedded lectures, I have learned a few things too. I hope that from this class I will learn things that will help me become a Human Resources Director, the field I am pursuing. If thinking like and learning to be an entrepreneur without actually becoming one will make me a great HR Director then I am all for taking this class.
Credit for the picture is from this website:http://blog.unitee.eu/business/migrant-entrepreneurship/new-european-entrepreneurs-natural-risk-takers-and-boundary-pushers
I enjoyed reading about your story. If I were in the same situation, I probably would've done the same thing, especially with children on the line. I think entrepreneurship can be viewed both positively and negatively. You never know what you are getting yourself into if you decide on starting up your own business. I think you made the right decision though. Since you already had a stable job and income I understand your decision and respect that. I wouldn't have wanted to risk that either.
ReplyDeleteHi Shae! I really loved the analogy you made comparing entrepreneurship to walking a tight-rope. Becoming a business owner comes with many risks, and, as you know, an entrepreneur must consider who becomes effected by the risks. In your case, it was your children. You might've been scared, but with good reason. I watched my father start his own business and run it into the ground, and the financial burden was difficult. After reading your post I started to think about who becomes entrepreneurs, and most of the time it is younger people who have nothing to lose. Moving forward you should always be weary of these opportunities, but sometimes taking a risk can be a huge blessing.
ReplyDelete