I recently posed a question on LinkedIn (a great business networking site – if you’ve never checked it out, you really should!):

• If you were given two job offers at the same time, one is a job that you would love but didn’t pay much, and the other is a so-so job that payed much better – which would you take?

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of the answers were “take the job that would make you happiest”.

In a perfect world, of course that would be the best answer.  But is it that straightforward?  We are all in business to make money, and if you can make money doing what you love – that is the perfect situation.  Well, I suppose the “perfect situation” would be if you were independantly wealthy and didn’t need to work at all, but I digress…

Choosing the best job – be it freelancing, a contract job, full-time job, or the next project for your business – is not always that easy.  Other factors might include location of the job relative to where you live, your current financial and personal situation, resources at your disposal – just to name a few.

Your goal should be to be in a position where you can do what you love, and make a good living at the same time. But sometimes we have to take steps to get there – take some projects that don’t pay much in order to impress a customer, take a higher-paying job that might not be what you really enjoy to build up your financial position – as long as you keep your goal in sight, and always work on achieving your goal in the long-term.

In the past 20 years or so, people had the luxury to switch jobs on a whim, getting a nice pay increase each time.  Now with high unemployment, some of those people realize that their choices were short-sighted.  If they had stayed at a job longer, they might be in a better position to have kept their job longer through the layoffs that hit so many companies.  Then again, maybe not.

What are your thoughts?  Take the job for satisfaction, or take the job for the money?

Resources

The DOT is undertaking a major project at the front entrance of the neighborhood I live in.  They have decided to cut off a hill in the road, essentially making the road flat.  This involves lowering the road by about eight feet, and lowering the entrance to the neighborhood to match.

Happens all the time.  But what strikes me as amazing is the process that goes on behind the scenes.  If you think about it, the project is pretty involved.  It takes planning, money, people, tools, permits, and organization.

But it shows that just about anything can be done if you have the right resources and a dream.

What had to happen to make this project a reality:

• One person had a problem, a vision, or a dream of what they want to do
• That person put together a plan, probably a basic document of what they wanted to see happen, what the goals were, and the reason behind it.
• That person gained support for their vision
• That person found and received the funding for their dream.
• A team was put together to come up with a plan.
• Resources were put together – contractors, machinery, permits, and meetings
• All the people – each specialists in their field or company – shared that common goal and vision, and had their tasks in the project.
• The project gets underway, and eventually is complete.

So, what seems like a daunting task to reshape the lay of the land to make the road safer, actually becomes quite technical, if you will.  When you break it down into steps, and get the resources you need, it’s not really that hard.

But – it has to start with one person and a vision or a dream. It has to start with you, and your goals.  Without that leader, the project, dream, business – whatever you are going for – will not happen.

For me, I was pretty amazed at the team I had put together for my startup company.  I personally talked to each person I hired.   What surprised me the most is that they all caught hold of my dream and vision – they were excited about it too!  They took the dream as their own, and they each did their part to make it a reality.

When you are that excited about your goals, and you can gain support and excitement from other people – you are well on your path to make your dream a reality.

Have you been in similar situations telling people or listening to other peoples visions?  Post a comment and let the world know.

This is the third post of the series “Path of the Entrepreneur”.

In my last post, I told you that I would take take the list of my possible career choices, and put them in a “career matrix”.  This matrix would put my career options on the left column, and along the top, I would put headings such as risk, enjoyment, salary, time to employment, cost of starting, etc.  I would then rank my career choices in order for each of the headings, and add up the totals.

Well, I went through the exercise, but I’m not going to post it.  And here is why:

Entrepreneurs don’t always follow the path of logic.  They follow their dream.

By using the logical approach, I should continue along my path of mechanical engineering – custom machine design and automation.  I have 17 years of experience, I am very proficient at it, I have a patent on a design,  I have a wealth of knowledge, and I am mildly known in my area of expertise.

THAT would be the logical choice.

But, as I said – and as many people I know would tell you – I don’t always follow the logical and safe choice.

Like most entrepreneurs, I want to be in charge of my own destiny.  I want the work I do to benefit me and those I help.  I want to wake up and know that my opportunities are endless, and the service I provide helps someone who needs it.  I want to know that the world is in fact my oyster, that I can go out and work 16 hours a day and enjoy every minute of it.  I want to be able to wear many hats, and create my own future.

So what is my career choice?  Well let me ask you – as long as it follows in my dreams, does it matter?  In a sense, it is the attitude we take on.  I can get all of those dreams by being employed by an existing business, or starting my own business.

Like my former boss told me – it’s all in your attitude.  I thank Dan M. for that one.

If you are interested in seeing my employment matrix, send me a quick message and I’ll send you a link.

What do you think – how important is attitude in having an enjoyable career?  Post a comment and let the world know.

ps – I’m going into the field of Information Technology.  I’ve also been the network administrator for each company I have worked for the past 17 years.

In the beginning…

Sitting at a coffee shop on Monday morning, imagining to myself what it would be like at an “entrepreneurs anonymous” meeting:

(me) “Hello, my name is Jon Colier, and I’m an entrepreneur.”

(crowd) “Hi Jon”.

I’m a mechanical engineer by schooling, and entrepreneur at heart.  I’ve been designing custom machinery for 17 years – oh, how time flies.  I’ve had a dream of running my own company since I was 8 years old.  I actually did start my own custom machine design company, ran it for two years until I took on too much work and went bankrupt.

Best two years of my working life.

After that, I ran into a streak of depression, for losing my dream and failing.  Since then, I’ve realized that it was not failure, but a lesson learned.

After that – after having my entrepreneurial spirit crushed, and in need to support my family, I took an engineering job – a “normal” job.

I was laid off from my place of employment last Friday.  I, like many people, saw it coming months ago, even knew about when it would happen.  It was not really a surprise, but a relief.  It was not really where I wanted to be, nor was it what my heart wanted.  Don’t get me wrong – I put in 100%, and did a great job.  I just knew it was not for me.

So now I sit here, wondering what is next.

I pretty much know what is next, I just have to figure it out, if that makes any sense.  Over the next few days, weeks, months – I will share my path of where I am headed, and where my dreams take me.  I will post my thoughts and actions for you all to follow and hopefully learn from.

Maybe you can catch some hope or inspiration from my path toward entrepreneurship.

Are you or have you been in a similar situation?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Thumbs Down

That’s right – us entrepreneurs have skeletons in our closet.  Little secrets we dare not tell anyone, except to other entrepreneurs, and those thinking about getting into the self-employed scene.

The cars, the boats, the vacations, the glamor and fame – it all looks good, but there are the little secrets that can strip the excitement away from the appearance.

Here are some of the “dirty little secrets” that no one tell you – you can’t learn them in classes, in seminars, or reading books. It’s one of those things you learn “on the job”, as they say.

1. It’s your dream – it’s up to you to make it work.
2. When times are good, everyone wants to be your friend.
3. When times are bad, you are alone.
4. At the beginning, just starting out – you have to believe in yourself, because no one else will.
5. When things go downhill – you have to believe in yourself, because no one else will.
6. If a job takes you 8 hours, assume it will take someone else 24.  Seriously.
7. NO ONE will work as hard as you.  Accept it as fact.
8. In the end, all responsibility is on your shoulders.
9. Part of having employees is babysitting – sometimes more than you would like.
10. You will have sleepless nights wondering what you got yourself into.

Those are some good, basic, entrepreneur rules, however negative they might be.  It is what it is.  Don’t get me wrong – owning your own business is absolutely wonderful – the pros greatly outweigh the cons (well, most of the time).

Next post, I will concentrate on the upside of entrepreneurship.

What tough situations do you find yourself in working for yourself?  Comment and let me know.

Are you crazy?

The stress… the long hours… the lack of sleep… the lack of money… did I mention the stress?

Some of the great benefits of being an entrepreneur and owning your own business.

But seriously – come on!  If it’s so terrible, why do people do it?

Admit it – you secretly love it, even crave it.

There are hundreds of books and online tests that attempt to tell you:

• Are you an entrepreneur?
• Do you have what it takes?
• Are you a born leader?
• What is your career path?

I believe that the people who take those tests and read those books already know what the answer is – they would not be researching it if they weren’t already interested in and craving entrepreneurship.  We just all want confirmation of our seemingly crazy and misguided need to work for ourselves, and build a business that is bigger than us.

What IS an entrepreneur?

• If you have a concept for something, and believe in that concept so strongly that it’s all you think about night and day – you have it.

• If you go after your dream, even though everyone tells you you are doing the wrong thing and going down the wrong path – you have it.

• If you risk all of your money to go after your dream, knowing that it will succeed without a doubt – you have it.

• If your concept fails, and you immediately start thinking of your next big idea – you have it.

Basically, being an entrepreneur means taking the courses of action to make your dream a reality.  To not be afraid of making mistakes, or even to fail.  To ignore the negative people, and seek out the positive.  To be so excited about your dream that other people want to join you and help.

It’s not easy – any business owner will gladly tell you that.  They will probably even try to talk you out of working for yourself – only an insane fanatic would choose to be an entrepreneur.

But we do choose to, because we need to.  It’s a feeling that is always there with us, and has been since we were kids.  It gnaws at us night and day, and we suffer with it until we embrace it, and start the long and exciting journey of learning, building, and growing our dream.

Yes, being an entrepreneur IS crazy.  But we would not have life any other way.

Idea!

I love seeing new and ingenious ideas at work – you know, something you see and you have to stop, and you say to yourself “Wow! What a great, simple idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Those ideas that I run across every now and then just remind me that creativity and ingenuity is still alive out there.

I was driving home last night, and stopped at a gas station. Since there has been a water shortage here in the Southeast US for the past year or two, most gas stations do not spray down their parking lots or the gas filling areas. So, you are left with a slippery dangerous pavement with spilled oils, gas, and who knows what else people spill out of their cars.

I saw a cleaning car that sprays soap and water on the ground, scrubs it in with rotary brushes, then vacuums it up to be reclaimed.

I am not sure if those have been around for a while, but this is the first I have seen of one for that specific application.

We have a small floor scrubber that does the same thing – you basically walk behind it and scrub the floors on one pass, then lower the vacuum and suck up the water on later passes. Seems some bright individual took that concept and made it into a cleaning wash car / pavement scrubber.

Fantastic!

I enjoy tinkering and developing prototypes for people. I am always pulled aside when someone learns of what I do, and I get the “I have a great invention!” speech. Some of the ideas ARE great! Most people, 99.5% of them, keep their idea in their head and don’t do anything about it.

Every now and then, though – one of those people with an entrepreneurial spirit and a bit of risk taking, runs with their idea and, in a small way, changes the way we all live.

How far have you gotten with your “ah-ha” ideas? Post a comment and let us know!

Simplify

I heard on the radio this morning that, due to the current economic situation, General Motors will have to get rid of product lines that are unprofitable.

Is this a new concept to them?

General Motors lost 9.6 Billion dollars last quarter.  Are they just now figuring out how to make a profit?  Have they just been so glut with money that they didn’t have to worry about what did and did not make a profit?

I started a business for many reasons – and making money was not on the top of the list, much to my downfall in my first business.

We all have to remember that for all the reasons to start a business – the MAIN reason is always to MAKE MONEY.  Only by making a profit can the business STAY in business, create jobs, create value for the owner and the community, and be allowed to grow and add to the economy.

Like it or not, it is about the money.

Now… back to the unprofitable product lines.

GM is realizing (or continues to realize) that the unprofitable automobile lines have to be cut, scaled back, or put on hold.  This should be a lesson to all of us – having pet projects or goal-less research and development projects, during this economy, is not a good idea.  Cash is king, and must be used with care and discretion.

Take a good look at your business, and, for that matter, your life.

What is there that is not making money, or is keeping something else from reaching its full potential?  Is there something in your life that is negatively affecting everything else?

It might just be time to take a good look at your business and personal situation, shed what is not needed, what is not profitable, what is placing too much a financial or emotional burden on you or your business, and start to shed some of it.

This economy is about getting back to the basics, down to the heart of what is important, and shake off the dust.

Call it getting lean and mean, or getting to the basics, or feng shui – it’s always about getting back to what is simple, what is good, and what works.

Comments?

The next time you are out and about, take a look around you.

Look at all the things.

I’m not saying anything negative about things – but imagine what it would be like without some of the more important ones.

Look at the trucks that carry food, clothing, furniture, and everything else that you may need from town to town.  Look at the buildings, the roads, the bridges, the shops and cars and signs.

Granted, we might not appreciate all of the multitude of accumulation that has arisen over the past 100 years or so, but my point is:

Someone had to get all this stuff made and put into use.

I am reading the book from Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich.  In the book, he gives the example of what it would take if you had to make breakfast for someone and could charge them the going rate of, say, $1.99.

Without all of the infrastructure we have, you would have to go to the farmland for eggs, to Nebraska for bread, to a dairy for milk and cheese, and to Florida for orange juice.

Amazing, if you think about it.

Someone stood up and said “I am going to start a trucking company to deliver oranges from Florida to New York”.  Or “I am going to put in electrical wires all around the town, put in a steam turbine, and provide people with electricity”.

Those people were just like you and me.  They are and were people who had a vision of something, stood up, and decided to do it.  Some of them had money to start with, some knew where to get money, and some just took their car, drove it to Florida, picked up as many oranges as they could squeeze into their Model A, and drove it back to sell it to local stores.

Those people started companies, and started to make the world what it is (for better or worse).

Those people followed their dreams, even if their friends and families told them they were crazy.

Those people succeeded, both personally and monetarily, and did it how THEY wanted to do it.

We who aspire to be entrepreneurs, and who are them, and who own small businesses – we are those people.

We all can do it – just stand up, say what you want to do -

and do it.