Have you really explored the time it takes to be an entrepreneur? It's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work (or not!)
By Ian Mooers, Director, Entrepreneurial Programs
I recently was reminded of the commitment level required to own and operate your own business. Over the summer, I took my vacation in Bethany Beach, Delaware and decided to moonlight as a bicycle mechanic to help out some friends who took over ownership of the bike store that I managed when I was in graduate school. It was amazing to see what they had done to the business to improve operations and increase customer traffic. The store last summer netted over 100k in profits, and the future looks very promising.
But, I had to wonder what they were doing differently from the previous owner. Upon reflection, I recalled that the previous owner was never there and that we rarely discussed improvements to business operations. I have to give myself some credit because he really did trust me and I did was able to double his profits over the span of two summer seasons. However, he had little to no interest in trying to grow the business. He wanted to make enough to pay the bills and spend the offseason in California. In the three years that I worked for him, he only made it to California once.
One of the things I am finding as I talk to more and more potential entrepreneurs is that a lot of people have romantic notions about operating their own business without having fully explored the commitment needed to growing a sustainable enterprise. It’s great to have aspirations, especially when it comes to being an entrepreneur, but you have to be realistic about what you want to accomplish and the commitment level needed to reach those aspirations. Otherwise, you could end up in a situation where you thought you would be very happy as an entrepreneur but miserable because you work now more than you ever did, and for fewer dollars.
John Casey, Director of the Fairfax Small Business Development Center, notes, “The typical ‘first-time-around’ business owner vastly underestimates how long it will take to do everything – whether it’s raising financing, launching the first product, generating revenue, building the team, getting to profitability, or achieving any one of the many other startup business milestones. Most new entrepreneurs should at least triple their initial guesstimates on how long it will take them to achieve some of these business milestones. They need to remain optimistic about the business but strive to be realistic when it comes to timelines.”
Recently, one of my best friends sold his business to be able to spend more time with his family. I was surprised because he is one of the most successful entrepreneurs that I know. However, the long hours that it was taking to keep his business profitable was beginning to take its toll on his personal life. He made a difficult choice to close shop, but he vowed to return to being an entrepreneur once his kids have gotten a little older. He knows what kind of commitment is needed to run a successful business, but he is smart enough to recognize that for right now he would rather be spending his time with his two young sons.
I met with a young aspiring entrepreneur recently who told me that he wanted to own his own business so that he would never have to work again. As we started to talk about how to get started, I kept bringing up the time-consuming tasks that would occur once the door opens. He just kept saying that he would hire someone to do that. If you agree with that approach I would encourage you to read the latest article by Jess McCann, a 2004 graduate of Mason, whose most important lesson came as an entrepreneur when she had to fire all of her sales staff. Jess learned that hiring a lot of people to get the job done was absolutely useless if they didn’t believe in the vision that she had as an entrepreneur. Making that vision a reality meant that Jess would have to roll up her sleeves and get to selling. That was when her business really took off.
So, the bottom line is this - if you really want to be a successful entrepreneur, you must be prepared to put in the effort required to make your venture successful.
Learn more about entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship.gmu.edu