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Entrepreneur Myth #8: I became an entrepreneur to be my “own boss”
I laugh heartily when I hear this statement made by entrepreneurs. Let me tell you a secret, I became an entrepreneur so I can become filthy fucking rich. I didn’t do it to be free or my own boss. I don’t ever want to fund entrepreneurs who want to be their own boss.
When you become an entrepreneur, being your own boss is a fantasy. Yes, you’re the captain of your own ship but you’ve got all kinds of people you end up reporting to for your entrepreneurial actions. If you’ve gotten a loan from a bank, well, the banker is one of your bosses. You have to report to the banker on the progress of your venture development if you ever want to get more money from the bank. If you’ve raised capital from angels, well, you’ve got more bosses to contend with who are, at times, arm-chair entrepreneurs.
If you’ve got employees, you’re responsible for their lives as well. Now, you may be immune to employee responsibility if your business has thousands of employees because, to a certain extent, they become a number because it’s not possible for you to know them all.
But if you’re an entrepreneur with less than a hundred employees, those employees are people whose lives are affected by your actions at the top. If you’ve never laid off employees because of a failed venture or due to business slow down, then you’re not going to know what the fuck I’m talking about.
Employees have families, kids, college bills, etc. They are depending on you just as much as you’re depending on them to make things happen in the venture. And if you use the bottom-up management approach or what I call swarm management, then your employees are your partners and the decisions that are made have serious consequences for all lives involved. In some twisted way, you actually report to them because they’re dependent on you to manage the business, to raise the capital, to deal with investors or banks, etc.
Don’t forget that you also report to customers, suppliers and the government. If you piss off any of these entities, you could be headed for trouble. In today’s environment, the customer is king. Since the customer is king, you’re a subject to their wants and needs.
The suppliers are critical because if you don’t pay them, you’re not gonna get those components necessary to build the product and then you’re shit out of luck. Now, if you don’t pay your taxes, sooner or later, you’re fucked too.
Do you still feel you’re your own boss? If you do, you’re screwed.
Entrepreneur Myth #9: Just make it and they will come
SUBSCRIBE to the PODCAST: Entrepreneur Myths on iTunes
When you become an entrepreneur, being your own boss is a fantasy. Yes, you’re the captain of your own ship but you’ve got all kinds of people you end up reporting to for your entrepreneurial actions. If you’ve gotten a loan from a bank, well, the banker is one of your bosses. You have to report to the banker on the progress of your venture development if you ever want to get more money from the bank. If you’ve raised capital from angels, well, you’ve got more bosses to contend with who are, at times, arm-chair entrepreneurs.
If you’ve got employees, you’re responsible for their lives as well. Now, you may be immune to employee responsibility if your business has thousands of employees because, to a certain extent, they become a number because it’s not possible for you to know them all.
But if you’re an entrepreneur with less than a hundred employees, those employees are people whose lives are affected by your actions at the top. If you’ve never laid off employees because of a failed venture or due to business slow down, then you’re not going to know what the fuck I’m talking about.
Employees have families, kids, college bills, etc. They are depending on you just as much as you’re depending on them to make things happen in the venture. And if you use the bottom-up management approach or what I call swarm management, then your employees are your partners and the decisions that are made have serious consequences for all lives involved. In some twisted way, you actually report to them because they’re dependent on you to manage the business, to raise the capital, to deal with investors or banks, etc.
Don’t forget that you also report to customers, suppliers and the government. If you piss off any of these entities, you could be headed for trouble. In today’s environment, the customer is king. Since the customer is king, you’re a subject to their wants and needs.
The suppliers are critical because if you don’t pay them, you’re not gonna get those components necessary to build the product and then you’re shit out of luck. Now, if you don’t pay your taxes, sooner or later, you’re fucked too.
Do you still feel you’re your own boss? If you do, you’re screwed.
Entrepreneur Myth #9: Just make it and they will come
SUBSCRIBE to the PODCAST: Entrepreneur Myths on iTunes
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