I got an e-mail today from a buddy in Texas:
I am glad to hear your business is doing well. I wish I had your skills to go out and start my own business, but I am too big of a chicken.
So here is my formula for “going out and starting your own business:
- Focus 150% on your career, give your life and time and thoughts to “the company.”
- Get laid off because of any lame reason.
- Work 60 hours a week looking for a job.
- Have a great looking resume that has some ghost problem (something that is a problem but you can’t find).
- Have an aha moment that is “wow, this would be really cool!!”
- Continue to not be able to get a job (much less a couple of interviews)
- Figure that going forward on your own business is going to be more fruitful than spinning the job search window (this was months into the job search)
- Being okay with giving up all of the corporate perks (steady paycheck, bonus, holidays, sick leave, “cheap” health insurance, etc.)
There you go. There’s my guts. Where are yours?
April 5th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Nice list, at least it’s not the usual list.
I’m not sure I understand 1 and 3. Could you elaborate your thoughts on those? They sound to me like things that caused you to go into business for your self.
9. Don’t worry what others will say, because they will say everything.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
#1 – I worked my tail of for the future of the company and totally neglected my career. I neglected family things. When I got burned, er, laid off, I realized that I had been way out of balance. Only to get the boot.
#3 – After I got laid off I spent about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week looking for a job. It was a ton of time and very difficult work, probably mostly because of the emotions involved.
#9 – good call on this. You can add this to the end “and they won’t pay your bills!”
September 21st, 2007 at 8:35 am
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