I've been self-employed for a year now. Last year, I left my 9-5 job with a big company to pursue my own web projects. Along the way, I learned more about business than any four-year-$40k university program could teach me. Although I'm still new to business, I'm compelled to share some of my ideas on the subject - ideas that seasoned entrepreneurs may ridicule as naïve. But hey, here goes...
It most definitely is not.
I grew up a Trekkie. I dreamed of living in a laissez-faire communist society where humanity's only wish was to better itself through compassion and understanding. Money was the root of all evil and was abolished in the 21st century shortly after First Contact. So for much of my life, I resented capitalism. I wanted to work for free because it would be for the good of man kind. Naturally, overtime, I realized that my philosophy was naive and misguided because people would always take advantage of free. I needed a compromise between charity and exploitation, and hence, my new found appreciation for business. Business, by my definition, is about making people happy without killing myself to do it.
Business isn't about money. It's about people. People will never go out of business.
- Michael Scott
One of the dashing fellow writers wrote, "External validation is for chumps." That pretty much sums it up. I started a business because I'm an insecure person with low self-esteem. I need people to acknowledge that I've made them happy. I need them to say, "Thanks John, that fixed the problem." It makes me think, "Hey cool, I can do something useful." Somewhere along the way, I needed to hear more of it. So I worked for free, like a dog eager to please its master. But it was difficult to live off of charity. The solution I arrived at was to start a business - to make people happy without killing myself.
When I worked for someone else's company, I could only make a few people happy: namely my supervisors and my co-workers. I was detached from the end consumer, so I had no idea what they thought of me. Any happiness I delivered was contained within a small department of a big company within an even bigger body of customers.
In running my own business, I can work directly with people to address their problems. I can quantitatively measure happiness via a growing customer base. I can choose how many people I want to help, who I want to help, and how quickly I want to help them.
I can also help kids with upbringings similar to mine by employing them in my company. When I was in engineering school, I didn't know the first thing about the working world. After graduation, I worked two full-time jobs for a year: receptionist by day for money and volunteer programmer by night for relevant work experience (common for unemployed new grads). I didn't know anyone in the middle echelons of society, so I had to figure out how to get there myself. Today, I'm trying to help students by advocating the importance of impressing the right people and obtaining work experience. I've employed the services of two students in my business because I can identify with their up-bringing. I want to give them the guidance I lacked in my youth. This is much easier to do under my own business than someone else's.
Also, since business is about making people happy, I have to make sure I'm happy too. I'm insecure by nature, so I need to oversee and control everything. When I was working for a big company, I was an expendable underling of a corporate conglomerate. I had no control over business operations and I had no influence over the company culture. Being insecure, this lack of control did not sit well with me. So I went out and ran my own show. The easiest way to manage my insecurity was to start my own business and assume control of everything.
I don't know. I've only been around for 1 year. Other veteran business owners cite the popular ingredients: hardworking, dedicated, relentless and fearless. Fearless is a weird one. I consider myself more reckless than I would fearless.
I think the most important thing for one's success is to impress the right people. It doesn't matter how great a person is if no one important is around to recognize him. A talented programmer needs to impress the right engineers. A kid with a strong arm needs to amaze an MLB scout. A terrific screen-play needs to fall on the lap of an influential producer.
I guess being successful in business is like being successful in anything else: impress the right audience.
Good luck. I wish I had the guts to do what you're doing.
starting your own business is just about the bravest thing someone can do. and it isn't about the money. people who are the most successful are people who love their job so much they'd do it for free.