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10
Really Good Reasons to Quit Your Job and
Start Your Own B |
by:
Michael
Katz |
It's
been five years since I made the decision
to leave my corporate job and start my own
company. No question about it, leaving nice
coworkers, a stable paycheck and 12 years
of tenure with one company was the scariest
thing I'd ever done. And yet looking back,
it was the defining moment not only of my
career, but of my personal development as
well. The fact is, I am now so enamored
of blazing my own trail that I could never
go back - I am hopelessly, incurably, unemployable.
As a result, I receive a steady stream of,
"Can I buy you a cup of coffee?" invitations
- from old colleagues, new friends, complete
strangers - anybody who is considering a
change, and who wants to know, "Why should
I start my own business?" This is what I
say:
1.You'll dance to your own music. There's
a lot of noise in the corporate world. Not
physical noise, but opinions, rules, history
and a whole lot of, "that's the way we do
it around here," always just an inch or
two below the surface. In such a setting
it's hard to find your path, or as I like
to say, "hear your own music."
Once you're on your own, you'll suddenly
begin to hear what's there, and the more
you can hear it and have the courage to
follow it, the more enjoyable and yes, profitable
your life will be. The fact is, there is
no right way to live, to act or to grow
a business.
2.You'll never have to retire. Retiring
is a strange concept to the satisfied, self-employed
person. It implies that work is something
you want to be done with, something you
wish were over. When you truly find your
passion however, the concept becomes meaningless.
Do painters stop painting? Do musicians
stop playing music? Do comedians stop being
funny just because they've reached a certain
age? Not if they are doing what they truly
want to be doing. Sure, you may slow down
or change focus as you get older, but the
game is never over, since the game and your
life will be one.
3.You'll put your money where your mouth
is. I never planned to start my own business,
and I always secretly believed that I didn't
have the guts to be successful on my own.
When I look back now, I'm not even sure
how I managed to convince myself to leave
the perceived safety of living within the
protected walls of a large corporation.
When I finally jumped however, I was surprised
by the number of friends, former co-workers
and family who remarked on my "courage."
Frankly, I'm not any braver now than I was
before, but I know with certainty that I
don't need a corporation to take care of
me (and neither do you).
4.You'll no longer live in two worlds. I
used to be two people: "corporate Michael"
and "home life Michael." Corporate Michael
was less friendly, less intuitive and a
lot less interesting. I found it easy to
switch back and forth between the two Michaels,
and for a long time it didn't even strike
me as odd that I would make decisions at
work based on a completely different set
of criteria regarding what was fair, what
was smart or what was worth doing. That's
over - I'm now one person no matter what
I do, and I have a more balanced, more humanistic
approach to business.
5.You'll know your own power. Swept up in
the turmoil of working as part of a corporation,
there's a tendency to blame others, wait
for others, think that others are making
things happen. Working alone you'll realize
how much control you actually have (and
have always had). That realization will
give you the courage and drive to do more
things than you ever dreamed of when you
saw yourself as an insignificant part of
a big machine. You'll have nobody else to
blame, and even more importantly, you will
see how much credit you really do deserve
for everything you've created.
6.You'll be free to walk away. When you
first start out on your own, you will probably
be grateful for whatever business comes
your way. The thought of "walking away"
from a client may seem suicidal. It isn't.
As your reputation grows, people will approach
you, ready to hand you their money and have
you begin work. That's terrific. However,
in some cases, the fit won't be there -
something in your gut will tell you it's
a bad match. You will learn that you can
say "no thank you" and walk away. Nobody
assigns projects or clients or teammates
to you anymore. You and only you decide
who you work with and on what terms, and
if it doesn't feel right you need only say
so.
7.You'll make new friends. If you've been
with the same company for a long time, you've
probably developed several close relationships.
You may be afraid that you'll be lonely
and isolated out here in the "cold cruel
world." Nothing could be further from the
truth. Starting your own business gains
you immediate entrance into a collegial
world of fellow sole proprietors and entrepreneurs,
eager to have you along for the ride. We
hold meetings, we have events, we meet for
lunch, we talk on the phone - we share ideas,
support each other and hang out together.
Price of admission: a friendly demeanor
and a willingness to help other people find
their way.
8.You'll pick the players. Wherever you
sit in a company, you've got people you
interact with every day. Your boss, your
direct reports, the head of the legal department,
the desktop support guy, the receptionist.
Hopefully you like and get along with most
of these people, but whether you do or not,
you're stuck with each other. When you run
your own company on the other hand, you
pick who's on the team. You get to choose
your attorney, your accountant, your landlord,
your printer, your partners, your clients
- everybody in your daily life is there
because you decided to put them there. You
get to choose.
9.You'll have real problems, instead of
imaginary ones. In a corporate setting,
your happiness and success is dependent
upon dozens of intertwined relationships
and handed-down decisions, any one of which
can change your world in ways you may not
anticipate or even understand. With so much
out of your control, it's hard not to spend
time "What If-ing" and worrying about the
future: "What's my boss really think of
me? What if I don't get put in charge of
that new project? What if they cut my budget
next year?" Fear of what might happen can
become worse than the situation itself -
imaginary problems.
When you're building your own business you're
immersed in reality. Sure, you may have
days where you worry about paying the mortgage,
but you'll be in the game, fighting the
good fight, and no longer obsessed with
the possibility of being blindsided by an
unforeseen shift in the corporate winds.
10.You'll find your purpose. You didn't
come here to follow somebody else's vision
or sit on the sidelines watching the clock
tick away until retirement. But somehow,
somewhere along the way, you forgot. Now,
after so many years of following the pack,
you've come to see work as a place you go
to earn enough money to do the things you
really want to do. It doesn't have to be
that way. Working on your own will give
you the freedom and focus to find the exhilarating,
balanced, self-directed career you've always
dreamed of.
One of my favorite quotes is from the book,
The Artist's Way, and I've had it taped
to the top of my computer monitor for the
last five years: "Leap, and the net will
appear." Go ahead, I'll be waiting for you.
About the Author
Michael J. Katz is Founder and Chief
Penguin of Blue Penguin Development, Inc.,
(www.BluePenguinDevelopment.com) a Boston
consulting firm that helps clients increase
sales by showing
them how to nurture their existing relationships,
and that specializes in the development
of electronic newsletters. He is author
of the book, E-Newsletters That Work. |
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