Posts Tagged ‘employment opportunities’

I’m out of work and thinking about starting my own business, but I’m worried that I’m not entrepreneurial enough. I’m used to having a boss and the security of having a regular paycheck. On the other hand, I believe I have a marketable idea. Plus, right now I don’t have any other options. My dilemma: Should I spend my time looking for a new job or trying to get my new business off the ground?

Dear Readers,

You cannot answer this question yet because there are too many unknowns. My best advice is to first tackle of the question of whether you are likely to enjoy running your own show. If the answer is yes, then try to figure out how long you can afford to try to make it go. Once that period runs out, you can reevaluate your situation.

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Here again, there is no simplistic answer, as if either you do, or you don’t. Instead consider a series of questions: Would you enjoy being in charge 24/7? What will be your benchmarks for success? How comfortable are you with uncertainty? Would you prefer to form a partnership with someone else?

Fernando Trias de Bes, author of The Little Black Book of Entrepreneurship: A Contrarian’s Guide to Succeeding Where Others Have Failed (Ten Speed Press, 2008), notes that 90 percent of businesses dissolve within four years and believes that examining those failures can help you make a realistic assessment of your own prospects.

The owner of a marketing firm in Spain, Trias de Bes believes that one common mistake is failing to distinguish between being spurred by a “motive” (I lost my job, or I hate my boss) and having the “motivation” to be an entrepreneur. The latter means being someone who “enjoys the uncertainty and insecurity of not knowing what will come tomorrow,” he says. He also suggests that you need “enormous, colossal and infinite enthusiasm” to drive away thoughts of failure.

The third characteristic, tenacity, is so necessary that it can make up for deficits in the other two. No matter how solid your entrepreneurial spirit, you need persistence to succeed.

But what if my main motivation for becoming an entrepreneur is to work less and earn more?

Then you may take inspiration from the success of Ernie Zelinski, who realized such a thing was possible 25 years ago after he was fired from his engineering job for taking an unauthorized vacation. Currently self-employed as a writer and speaker, Zelinski has recently reissued his book. Career Success without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations (Ten Speed Press, 2009). Zelinski claims that since that fateful firing, he has lived a happier, freer, and consequently more fulfilling life. He claims to make a “decent” living by working only four or five hours a day. He notes that a book he wrote in 1991, The Joy of Not Working, still earns him about $15,000 a year in royalties.

He agrees, however, that it takes enormous effort to get a new business off the ground. In fact he says it’s important to “forgo the pleasures of today and think long-term.” Other requirements include selecting work you truly enjoy, and being willing to accept both rejection and getting paid sporadically. “Don’t make your main purpose earning a lot of money,” he writes.

Zelinski’s view of an “ideal” business is one that is much like his own, which requires little start-up capital, low overhead, no employees, and, with that, the opportunity to make money early on. Many areas that fit this description are information related, such as consulting and event planning. He also lists “cool, unreal jobs,” such as cabaret singer, game designer, and massage therapist.

Whether or not you ultimately launch a new venture, seriously considering the pros and cons is a worthwhile exercise. Everyone should explore his or her entrepreneurial options periodically. It gives you valuable insights into your own character, abilities, and potential roadmaps forward – all things that are worth a great deal.

This just in from CNN, on the heels of the “Working Class” column on the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps.  With more people considering government funded public service as a career booster, it may be on the verge of a new heyday:

(CNN) — When Autumn Preble was a teenager in the 1960s, she spent hours gazing at black-and-white LIFE magazine photographs that documented the journey of Peace Corps volunteers all over the world.

George Stouter, 67, is helping build mental health programs in Saint Kitts for his Peace Corps stint.

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Preble, of Whidbey Island, Washington, wanted to join, but after college came marriage and a child.

Now at 58, with her son off to college, she has begun her two-year stint as a Peace Corps volunteer working in the public health sector in Francistown, Botswana, where nearly one in four individuals are infected with HIV.

“I’m getting to experience what it’s like to live in another culture, and that has a lot of value to me,” Preble said from her simple two-bedroom bungalow in Botswana. Preble is known to natives in her community as Masego (Ma say ho), which means “many gifts.” “This is the kind of travel that I’m interested in.”

Forget the mapped-out cruises or packaged vacations to see the world. A growing number of Americans over 50 are dedicating time in their golden years to volunteering abroad. The decision is becoming more attractive with a sickly national economy sparking more layoffs and early retirement packages.