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Do you want to start a business? I started last week’s article with the same words, but I was writing to those who go into business for the wrong reasons. This week we look at the other side – why you should go into business. The reasons I share in this article are real and have come out of people’s experiences. Have you been thinking about it but it’s never the right time? Circumstances never seem to quite add up. Money is never enough. (Click to Tweet this thought) There just never seems to be enough time to sit down, plan, think it through, research etc. There is always something in your life that is happening that keeps you postponing this move. Additions in the family, a career move, an emergency, more responsibilities in your life etc. Well the thing is most people who have started a business at some point or the other had all the same problems, challenges, issues. There is never a perfect time. Your responsibilities will not end. In all likelihood you will never feel like you have money to do this. Such is life that there is always a new problem we are all facing. And once that problem is dealt with another one rears its ugly head. Here are some of the reasons to go into business:
- You are disturbed or for some reason you feel like you have had it. If you were waiting for a logical reason at this point sorry to disappoint but many people actually say this is the reason they started thinking of venturing out. You know and/or feel that there is something you want to achieve and you cannot do it in your current environment. For some people this signals a career shift but for others they know that another job will in time lead to the same dissatisfaction. Maybe you felt it a long time ago but life has a way of throwing distractions your way to numb this feeling e.g. an increase in income. Lisa* had been feeling like she wants to go into business for the last three years, and finally did last year. She definitely felt disturbed but describes this feeling more so as a drive to figure out what her strength and passion for marketing could turn out to be if she had the freedom to fully discover it under her own terms. The drive to do that was just stronger than the fear of all the challenges ahead. She first thought she could do it as a side hustle and got a few clients but this just got her wondering what would happen if she did for eight hours a day. Sam* simply says he went into business as he felt there was motivation that he could not bring to the table when employed by a big organization. In fact, he started feeling irritated and realized that he was the problem and not other people, he simply did not fit in anymore and neither did he want to.
- Time to do something different. Karimi has been in the NGO/Foundation world for most of her working life which spans about 20 years. She has been raising funds, sending proposals, looking for projects to fund and so on. In her job she has travelled extensively and was often the envy of many friends and acquaintances because of this. She has now started a business that does storytelling. This is very different from what she was doing. For her she just felt it was time to do something different and had started noticing that she had a passion for writing and telling stories. It may be time for you to simply do something different and starting a business may be the avenue for this. You don’t have to start a business in the area that you are an expert in, though I believe that your experience in some way will always help you. Your experience always matters. Experience teaches you something and for a fact, many people discover an interest while pursuing a career in something totally different.
- Money or rather long-term wealth creation. At 51, Nderitu knew he had made his financial mistakes. Lived a good life, great career but had not significantly saved much money. He was aware that money in business is not made overnight and there would be short term adjustments to his lifestyle. However, if he did not make this move, and retirement not looking far off, he would not be able to have any lifestyle to talk about. He mortgaged his house and got his property business off the ground. Though he has not yet reached his goals yet, he believes he is on the way to getting there and is happy just to be in a place where he is proactively doing something about it rather than waiting for a salary to be increased, financial windfall, and all the other excuses he had used over time.
- Last but not least, there is a need for people to start businesses. (Click to Tweet this thought) The fact remains that there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs being created. There are more people graduating from university than available jobs. In the recent past we have had many companies retrenching; not everybody will find another job or want to get another job. Maureen was retrenched at 43 and simply vowed that she was not going to go through that again. It was not so much about the money but she felt like she did not want someone making those decisions for her at her current state in life. This equation (more job seekers, less jobs) is corrected by more people becoming entrepreneurs. You may also find you have time on your hands to do it or to experiment. Time can also play a motivating role. Students or those who have just graduated have time on their hands to do this. Kibet, a university student makes Kshs 10, 000 a month selling cakes in school. If you have lost a job, you may have time to try. You may also be a stay at home parent who is now ready to work.
You will never know if you don’t try. The bigger regret will always be not the failures, not the challenges but the not trying. Remember there is only one way to start a business. Simply start. (Click to Tweet this thought)
Waceke runs a coaching program on Entrepreneurship at Centonomy. To sign up, email her at waceken@centonomy.com| Facebook/centonomy or go to www.centonomy.com