Mission or commission

Why do you want to get into business?

I ask new entrepreneurs this question to get to the heart of their motivation.

Getting into business is crazy. Less than 5% of the population are entrepreneurs. Some estimate the number of entrepreneurs will climb to 50% in the next 20 years. And 85% of businesses fail in the first five years.

I believe businesses fail because the entrepreneur opened the business for the wrong reasons. Not knowing the difference, not having the right teachers, they go down a dark, scary path which ends in wreckage.

Let's discuss compensation of an entrepreneur:

For the first two years, there isn't any money to pay the entrepreneur a salary. The money coming in has to pay operational expenses, inventory, and/or rent. If the entrepreneur indebted the company to pay for equipment or assets, the interest and principal has to be paid from that cash.

Are you ready to work for less money than you could get as an employee?
Are you ready to work harder than you ever did as an employee?
Are you done working for someone else because of something bigger than money?

Don't ever get into business because you want to make money. Money is easy to make. Someone will pay you every two weeks and you get your weekends off if you choose the employee path.

Are you working for a mission or a commission?

Commissions come from being a good salesperson. Missions come from a deeper desire. They don't surface because it would be nice to do.

I was an employee for ten years after university. I loved what I did. I went to work everyday with a smile on my face. Stress was low. The money was good. I wanted more money. I wanted nicer things. I wanted fancier vacations, and sugary cars. But I wasn't making a difference.

In trying to buy a business, the employee in me, would never have quit my job. I wanted to buy a business, but I liked my comfortable lifestyle just as much. I wanted children. I wanted to be able to pay my mortgage. I didn't want to lose everything I had worked so hard to get.

Looking back on that time, I realize I had nothing. Funny how perspective does that.

It was like I stood at the edge of a cliff with a paraglider. I wanted to soar but I didn't know how to fly. I didn't want to fall to the bottom of the chasm. I never would've jumped on my own. I was scared. An asshole pushed me.

Once pushed the little bird in me had a choice, learn to fly or die. I reached for the outstretched branches trying to pull me back to employee safety.  But every branch looked like the asshole that pushed me off the cliff. And that's when I made the choice that changed my life.

I wanted to live. I wanted to soar. I wanted to be my own man. I didn't want to look over my shoulder waiting for the office politics to show me the door. I didn't want to be told what to do.

The decision was easy.  Looking back, I didn't have a choice. Live happy or compromise my one and only life for the safe bet. It came down to my mission. I couldn't achieve my mission as an employee.

And that's how I decided to become an entrepreneur. I burned my boat as I rushed the entrepreneurship shores, knowing there was no way I was going back from where I came.

Do you have a compelling reason why you want to get into business? If it's for money or time, do yourself and your family a favour, keep the job.

If you want to start or buy a business because of a greater cause, you may have a chance.