MOST of us consider leaving the rat race and striking out alone at some point
in our career. Freedom, fame and fortune beckon.
A survey published this week by the London Business School shows that it is a
dream that remains unrealised for many. Last year just 6.2 per cent of the
adult working population was involved in some form of entrepreneurial
activity — compared with 12.4 per cent in the US and 9.3 per cent in Canada.
But British youth are upping the ante: one 18 to 20-year-old in ten says that
he or she expects to run their own business within three years.
But first let’s knock a common misconception on the head: being
entrepreneurial isn’t solely about setting yourself up as the next Anita
Roddick or Richard Branson. There is a smorgasbord of nibbles on the
business buffet. Aside from setting up the next Google, you could become a
sole trader, freelance, consultant, interim manager, one half of a
partnership, sub-contractor, franchise manager or social entrepreneur, to
name just a few of the alternatives. Some of these involve slaving away 24/7
in your spare bedroom, others working 9-5 shifts in a large corporation. The
choice is yours.
However, all the options usually require loosening your grip on the safety
blanket of a full-time permanent contract with fringe benefits like a
pension and paid sickies. This requires a certain amount of confidence and
dynamism.
Lorna Collins, the director of the National Council for Graduate
Entrepreneurship’s Flying Start programme, says that to be successful
entrepreneurs need three things: passion, determination and the skill to be
independent and interdependent — the ability to work as part of a team, but
also the ability to stand back.
Janice Sandwell, the entreprise manager of Business Link Kent, has her own
trio of ingredients for success: drive, energy and vision. “If you are not
motivated, going into business can be a disaster.”
Being hypomanic isn’t enough, though. It also pays to have some business
smarts. These can be gleaned either in the workplace, on a course or from a
mentor. “You need to find out what you don’t know,” Sandwell says. While
Collins adds: “You need to know what questions to ask.”
Martin Barrett, a manager at the recruitment company PFJ, plans to leave his
job and go it alone this summer — he has three business ideas he is working
on. In the meantime he is gathering as much knowledge and expertise from
work colleagues as he can. “There is no way I would set up on my own without
having seen how a business works and how it has to struggle to overcome hard
times,” he says. Sound advice.
Barclays estimates that a quarter of new businesses fail in the first year.
Which means that three quarters don’t.
So come on, what are you waiting for?
LONE STARS
The world of work is changing. There is no such thing as a job for life any
more, which is great. Most of us crave the excitement of a career working in
a range of roles, functions, sectors and countries. Increasingly this will
include a stint working for ourselves.
The forms in which we do this are many and varied: from entrepreneurs eager to
exploit a niche in the market to busy mothers keen to fit work around the
school run.
The demand for self-employed workers — whether consultants, interim managers
or freelances — is growing as companies strive to decrease costs and
increase flexibility.
Over the coming weeks we will look at the skills and knowledge needed for an
entrepreneurial future, whatever form of it you choose.
