The Magic Button

I am a business owner. I wouldn't trade that for the world. Yes, I make decent money but I would like to point out two things. First, I would do this for much less (if I had to). Second, I wouldn't trade this position for a similarly paying position as an employee of a business, golf course, or sports stadium. That's just me. I often make the mistake of thinking that most people would agree with me on this, but I really don't know and it wouldn't be fair to assume.

To become a business owner, it takes a lot of work. Of course, it takes a lot of work to get to any positions of authority and/or responsibility. Most of the successful people I know are not afraid of working hard. That got me to thinking, "why don't more of these men and women start up their own businesses?" In a word, RISK.

To get your own business going, you need to lay it all on the line. Put up cash, forego income for a period of time, work your butt off and hope that it all pays off and results in a company you can call your own. I read a statistic somewhere that 99% of all new business startups do not last 10 years. That's a lot of money and sweat equity down the tubes. It's no wonder many people don't want to take that plunge. I had the dumb luck of having very gracious parents who didn't mind me sleeping in a small studio apartment above their garage for a year after I graduated college. With no expenses, no wife or kids and a bit of cocky self assuredness, I decided to go for it and get a business going. In another piece of random luck, I came into contact with a guy (Peter Teed) who was similarly cocky, had very little to lose, and whose skills balanced my own perfectly. We both figured, "why not?"

Today, I'm married with a big mortgage two great kids and a wife who has me constantly wondering how on earth I got so lucky. If I was currently an employee somewhere and suddenly got the bright idea to get a new business going, just how far do you think I'd get with that idea? Not very. Responsibility calls for reliability. Getting a new business off the ground is ANYTHING but reliable.

I got to wondering something though. What if the risk was removed? Purely hypothetically of course; What if somebody could press a magic button, and suddenly switch career status from "Employee" to "Business Owner?" No stress associated with building the business, no periods of time where income was iffy and/or nonexistent. Just push that button and presto change-o, you now have a company with a handful of valued employees and a steady income that matches your current salary to the penny. In fact, imagine your current employees ARE the employees of your very own business. Would you do it? Would you press that button?

Whether or not YOU would press the button, what percentage of professionals do you think would press it? It's a survey I'd love to see done. Just listening to people talk gives me the impression that the number would be pretty high. Maybe more than 50%, but maybe not. I really don't know, and I'm not a pollster. Still, I think there are a lot of guys & gals out there who are fairly well accomplished, but would love to just open their own business, be their own boss, and have much better control of their own future. Then they think of their wife (or husband), kids and mortgage.

I actually have asked the reverse question from several friends who own their own businesses. Would you trade your business in for a management position paying a salary that equals your current income? The responses range from polite chuckles to negotiations of the terms. "If I was given a guaranteed lifetime contract and could come and go as I please? Sure!" Even with the reported headaches that go with business ownership, the control and freedom is intoxicating. Guys like me won't give that up for just about anything. The truth is though, this is America. We CAN switch career status from one to the other. We just can't do it painlessly with a magic button.

What if you don't already have a career established and are just getting out of school? Well then, you need to decide which path you'd like to go down. You are at the bottom of a "V" and the two options get further away from one another as you move up further toward the top. One line takes you toward business ownership and the other takes you to a career as an employee moving up the ladder in your industry of choice. Both are valid, rock solid choices. Both entail lots of hard work to get to the top. So you have a choice. After you have put in 5 - 10 years of hard work, which pinnacle do you want to be standing on? You don't get a magic button for either, just as you won't get it later if you decide you picked the wrong path.

There's an old saying. "The elevator to health, happiness, and success is out of order. You'll have to take the stairs, one step at a time." Are you going to start climbing, or are you going to wait around in hopes that the elevator gets fixed. If you decide to get climbing, think long and hard about which set of stair you want to take.