Surprisingly, finding these opportunities is easier than you think. It starts with a mindset, sort of like an antenna tuning into companies with job creation possibilities. What about your network? Heads of trade associations, for example, may point you toward opportunities. Don't forget the hidden market sources mentioned in Chap. Eleven. Companies launched in business incubators and enterprise zones are more likely to be open to creative suggestions than established companies.
MAKE THEM AN OFFER THEY CAN'T REFUSE
Now the plot thickens. Once you find a company with an obvious need, it's time to shift into second gear and make the connection. Remember, you've trail blazing. You're doing something that s never occurred to most job searchers. There are no rules or precedents. You're creating them as you go along. The best way to make contact is by writing a letter. The difference is that here you'll spend most of your time pointing up a critical need and showing how your qualifications can meet it.
Consider the sample letter on the following page. Note that our clever job searcher had the good sense not to ask for a job. He also didn't make the hard sell by reeling off a lengthy list of prior jobs and titles. He merely whets the reader's appetite, driving home the point that he was a seasoned professional who knew the food industry. He's shooting for an appointment so he can sell himself face to face. The letter's intent is to pique the reader's curiosity: "This man knows the cookie industry. He makes sense. Maybe I ought to see him. What do I have to lose?"
The idea is to get yourself in the door and make a dynamite impression. Asking for a job straight out is the worst thing you can do. You'll put off the entrepreneur. Her first thought, "The last thing I need is another cash drain."
When you meet this skeptical entrepreneur, consider asking to work on a project as a consultant to prove your worth. Show your value and your negotiating position jumps a hundredfold.
I COULD RUN THIS COMPANY MYSELF?
Creating your own job could point you to still more exciting vistas, such as launching your own company. In a word: entrepreneurial-ism. Creating a job is risky enough; building a company is even scarier, because the odds are stacked against you from the onset.
The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that approximately three out of five companies perish within their first 3 years of operation. But that hasn't stopped anyone from trying. Thanks to corporate downsizing, record numbers of gutsy folks test the entrepreneurial waters each year. According to Paul D. Reynolds, Coleman Foundation professor of entrepreneurial studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, more people are starting companies in any given year than are getting married. Reynolds says-are you ready?-roughly 1 in every 25 adult Americans is trying to get a business off the ground. He figures the number of these prospective company owners exceeds the entire population of Massachusetts or Missouri.
The above numbers are awesome. Thousands of corporate refugees feel entrepreneurship is their salvation. They're quickly finding there's a lot more to it than fantasies of freedom, wealth, and power. The fact is, few successful entrepreneurs actually enjoy such perks because they compulsively work, afraid they'll lose it all if they ease up on the reins for a second.
Be objective and think practically. That's easier said than done when you are soothing a bruised ego after being dumped by a company that swore lifetime allegiance. No wonder entrepreneurship seems attractive. The simple truth is not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur-it's no crime if you don't fit the profile.
THE FRENETIC LIFE OF A BUSINESS OWNER
Entrepreneurship means the proverbial buck stops with you. Success or failure rests solely in your mortal hands. Entrepreneur-ship also equates to working long, hard, endless hours, making tough decisions by yourself, bucking the tides, and standing by your beliefs when everyone around you insists you should be carted away.
Unless you luck out and your business takes off immediately, count on doing big-time suffering. Do the above seem absolutely repulsive? If you think prison time sounds more attractive, I've spared you the hardship, aggravation, and maybe the cost of a shrink. But what sounds like masochism to most people is actually a turn-on to entrepreneurs.
This is the reason that entrepreneurs are an odd breed. Where most of us see problems and uncertainty, entrepreneurs envision opportunity. Boston Globe columnist John Case hit the nail on the head when he said entrepreneurs are blessed (or cursed) with the ability to spot business opportunities anywhere. He calls them the Manhattan cabbies of the business world. Says Case, "Pedal to the metal, they dart through openings the rest of us don't notice until it s too late."
Now that you've gotten a capsulized picture of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, here's a quick test to see if you can cut it. Can you live without the following?
- The prestige of a corporate position
- Easy access to the resources of a corporation
- The supportive feedback of coworkers
- Regular paychecks
- Paid holidays, sick leave, and vacations
- Paid medical and retirement packages
CAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP BE TAUGHT?
Some experts question my sanity, but I'm convinced an entrepreneurial gene exists that provides business creators with the foundation-talent, drive, and vision-for entrepreneurial success. If such a gene is ever discovered, academics could stop arguing over whether entrepreneurship can be taught. Some 300 colleges and universities across the United States insist it can. To prove it, they offer a battery of courses and degree programs in the business creation process.
But many skeptics, like myself, insist entrepreneurship really can't be taught. Professor William D. Bygrave at Boston's Babson College says you can teach entrepreneurial fundamentals, strategies, and tools of the trade. But if the natural talent is missing, you don't have a prayer.
In other words, you can study entrepreneurial skills until the cows come home, but if you don't have what experts have identified as the "entrepreneurial personality," your chances of succeeding are slim.
The entrepreneurial personality is made up of traits shared by all entrepreneurs. They include refreshingly unscientific terms like "street fighter personality", "self-starter", "highly motivated", "workaholic/compulsive personalities", "creative-problem solver" and "ability to turn adversity into a learning experience." True entrepreneurs have the tenacity and persistence of pit bulls. Their capacity to endure stress, pain, and hardship seems almost inhuman. They figure it's the price you pay for building something of your own. They may be right. If you think holding down a job is tough, imagine the angst of getting a company off the ground, cementing deals, and making promises to vendors when there's no guarantee you'll be in business next month. Although they'll seldom admit it, smart entrepreneurs know launching a business is a crap shoot and an expensive one at that. That chilling reality would scare the hell out of most of us. For an entrepreneur, it beats a roller-coaster ride any day.
No question about it, entrepreneurs are nuts. You have to be in order to walk that kind of tightrope day in and day out. They're also rule breakers, iconoclasts, and free thinkers. In short, creative mavericks on their own special wavelengths.
Are you a budding entrepreneur? Think about it.
