Building YOUR Business – This is a Time of Opportunity

It is time for the Entrepreneurial World to wake up.

Entrepreneurship is something that was always considered to be for someone else. In a lot of ways it often still is. Many parents will tell their children that they should find a nice steady job, with good pay and great benefits. Well, guess what, the world has changed a lot from those days that you were able to join a company at 20 and leave them at 65.

Joining a company no longer offers the security that many people still look for. Ofcourse, we do need people that want to be employees, or we would never be able to build OUR businesses, but I seriously believe that we should stop telling the next generation that this well trodden path is the only one there is.

In fact – let’s look at the facts. Many people do go straight into working for a (big) company when they finish their education. So they make some nice money, they start spending it on a nice car, and when they are a few years older, they may think of buying their first home. Along comes Love – so now there’s two incomes and so let’s buy a bigger home – because we can all afford it right? And maybe, tiny family member number three is on the way so more space is needed.
Pause right there and take a long look at this picture and think about what could be wrong here. After all, both parents have had a few promotions in the company and are well on their career path, making more money with each step they take.

Except …. there is no freedom in having a big mortgage, or an expensive lifestyle. You are always dependent on someone paying you a big enough salary to cover it, and whilst you may be living in a nice house – it is actually paid for with someone else’s money. Next – a recession hits the world – like it is doing right now and those parents may loose their jobs or have to face longer hours/less pay – and the banks still want their money. And of course, with all the growing and promoting and career planning going on, they may not have saved as much as they originally set out.

This is what happens today. In our current lives – you will very likely have a number of periods between 20 and 65 where no-one is looking to employ you and give you the security you might think you’d gain by being employed. So this is a GREAT time to start thinking about all the things that you have to offer and dedicate those skills to building something much more secure than what any other company can give you: your own company!!

Running your own company is by no means any easier then working for someone else – in fact, it’ll prove much harder and you’ll definitely have times you wish you never had (mind you, I never looked back – it’s been the best thing I’ve done in my life!). But you are able if you do it well – to build up capital instead of debts, and to invest that capital in the one investment that you should always trust in – YOU! Added benefits are that you control your own pension, and of course – you are always in control of your own time and money.  Now is definitely the right time to start – despite the fact that the financial institutions may not lend you any money. There are enough people in your direct environment that are looking for a better place to invest their money then in the stock markets… and you may just be that which they feel they can trust.

If you are still not sure whether you have what it takes, take the great new test on efactor.com: the Entrepreneur’s Mind Challenge® (efactor.com/p/emchallenge) and find out exactly how good you would be as an Entrepreneur!

by Marion Freijsen