Being an Entrepreneur

This is an article dedicated to budding Entrepreneurs, who aim at being one of 'em. 


  Intro:          
An alien lands on Earth. After a few days she finds out that she is going to need some money in order to purchase food and shelter.  Should she become an entrepreneur or get a job? Let’s examine the best and worst things about being an entrepreneur so we can help the alien(Dmitri) make an educated decision. 

Easy sweet heart easy, let's get a few takes from people who made it till there successfully nevertheless what it took them. Let me not fear this little one emphasizing more on the negatives at the beginning. Let's  begin with the positive prospect of the Being an Entrepreneur. These are the most chalked upon words, the big money you get, the great amount of freedom you can exercise on starting your own firm. I remember my class guy stating
I want to be a job Provider, not just a mere Seeker. I questioned him that day what he'd do. 
He replied "How'd i know, i'm just Seventeen". I felt like pissing on him but you know he was a topper. Job provider is a very responsible and heavy tag on your head and body. In the later section,i'll cover why being a job provider is not so easy. 


Happy Happy Happy:

                                               Well, first you have freedom. You don't need to rush in your un-ironed jeans and sit in-front of a stupidly moronic boss (remember HARI SADU ad? H for hitler....)  Your skills can be utilized to max (it depends on what do you have, i' am ambiguous of Dmitri) .  You have control over your destiny . Respect comes from your peers. You have the recognition of being a visionary. You have provided hundreds or thousands of people with jobs and they respect and thank you (in case you do all of it, you might think you could smile just like the image does on a sunny beach). You have  improved the standard of living of many. 
Excerpts : 
MCNC Chairman Dave Rizzo says, "You have control over your destiny, your calendar, and the vision is yours." 
Christy Shafer adds, "You are constantly challenged and have fun." 
Colin Wahl notes, "You have much more control of your own destiny and your entire life!’ 
Randy Myer states, "The best part is the rewards -- financial and psychological.





OMG: 

The worst thing about being an entrepreneur is the loneliness, I recently read a book called Andre Agassi’s Open: An Autobiography and a blog which correlated both of them. Loneliness sounds terrific but yes it is a part of successful entrepreneur's life.


 Andre Agassi wrote about the situation we are talking about, the loneliness of a magnate. He apparently never liked tennis. It wasn't his first choice of sports (like John McEnroe wrote in his bio, Agassi also preferred soccer to tennis, as did I!) But Agassi’s father chose tennis for him (and a badly broken leg ended my soccer career). For Agassi, tennis was all-consuming, and he woke up one day to realize that he never got an education and basically had no choice but to pursue tennis. (Think are you in this league? Are you not left with any choice? If so could entrepreneurship be the second one?) Yes, even tennis players can get pigeon-holed. 


Alien, remember you gotta work your ass off to let the cash flow in. 
KendallTodd, Inc. CEO Todd Ballenger says that " the worst thing about being an entrepreneur is that you often work 80 hours a week as an entrepreneur to avoid working 40 hours a week as an employee. 
Posed with the same question, Inspire Pharmaceuticals CEO Christy Shafer says the worst thing is that you are constantly busy and stressed out and have less time for family. 
Best Friends Pet Care founder Randy Myer says that the worst thing is the impact on your health and your family. 


A few one-liners by a few entrepreneurs:
1. Everything takes three times longer than it should, Especially the money part.

 

2. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

 

3. People want what they can’t have. In fact, that’s pretty much all they do want.

4. You can either be cheapest or the best. (If you had made it to the bulls eye)

5. It’s better to be underfunded than over funded.

6. If an average guy in a bar can understand what you do for a living, chances are you’re halfway to becoming a commodity.

7.If you’re happy in your career before the age of thirty, you’re probably doing something wrong

8. Smart, young, artistic people are always ask which is a better career path, “Creativity” or “Money”.The answer is that it doesn’t matter. What matters is “Effective” and/or “Ineffective”.

9.keep the former undersupplied. Oversupply is the kiss of death.

 10. I read about a former CEO who, once he attained control of the company, ran an EXTREMELY profitable business into the ground in less than two years. From a market cap of $100 million to ZERO, just like that. Why? Short answer: He loved being “The” CEO, but he didn’t much care for being “a” CEO.

11. One successful entrepreneur  has a wonderful quality, namely that he never, ever compares himself to other people. He just does his own thing, which actually serves him rather well. Just because his competitor has bought himself a bigger motor boat, doesn’t mean he feels the need have a bigger motor boat. This quality helps him to build his business the way he sees fit, not the way the motor boat people see fit.

12.Running a startup is full of extreme ups and downs. Which is why so many successful and happy entrepreneurs  lead such normal, stable, unglamorous, “boring”, family-centered lives. Somehow they need the latter in order to balance out the former. Extra-curricular drama looks great in the tabloids, but that’s all it’s ultimately good for. 

13. MBAs are conditioned to use their brains in much the same way as sex workers are conditioned to use their genitals. Nice work if you can get it.

14.Some people think that once they secure venture funding, their problems will be over. Wrong. That’s when your problems REALLY begin.

 

                        With cash flow problems, having to lay people off, working eighty hour weeks, the possibility of not ever being paid for your work, and loneliness, why in the world would anyone want to be an entrepreneur? I feel its the passion and the skills that drive them towards it, so remember Dmitri never QUIT even if you are the verge of falling from a cliff.








A few inspirations down there:


A chapter that shows your attitude: (I take it from Agassi's book)


Agassi wrote about that Rock Creek Park tournament in the book. What he wrote was how he had hit rock bottom at Rock Creek Park. He and his brother had only $20 left to their name and were on the verge of quitting the circuit.  he didn’t care who the heck we were, he probably only wanted to go to the party because there would have been food there and he did it. That’s probably why Agassi did as well as he did on the tennis circuit. Like a good entrepreneur, he could act brash and confident even when standing on the brink of disaster.


Finale: 
So what is the final decision? Will our alien friend decide to be an entrepreneur or an employee? 
Note: I don't mean a real alien but guys who want to rip off business but never thought of what do. Think Quick!

@ Karthik

Courtesy : http://www.zeromillion.com/young/best-worst-entrepreneur.html