[Cliff Claven]

Originally Posted by markwemple

Wow, Cliffy, read my last line.

mark, the message of your post was all gloom and doom, dire warnings of failure and misery. very eeyoresque. the last sentence did not change that.

[Dr K]

Originally Posted by roundel

There is no pickmeup for Dr. K like the smell of feces in the morning.

Actually, Bob, none of my patients smell like feces. But I haven't seen you as a patient yet...

[markwemple]

Originally Posted by Cliff Claven

mark, the message of your post was all gloom and doom, dire warnings of failure and misery. very eeyoresque. the last sentence did not change that.

Just a reality check for all the feel-good posts.

[BlackTalon]

Pretty easy to start your own company if you are a mechanical/ electrical/ plumbing/ civil/ structural engineer. Just need your professionsal registrations, then you can register your company as a professional corporation. Investment is minimal: computer, software, plotter. Just need a line on some clients, which is easy enough if you are leaving someone else's company.

Success/ failure depends on a lot of things. There are many occupations you can start on your own and grow to the point where you have 2, 10 or over 100 employees. PCA Potomac is full of people who have started their own businesses.

Pick somehting you are qualified/ licensed to do, and start your own gig

Now if you want to start a business in a field you know very little about, that's a different story.

[Patrick3000]

Originally Posted by Vicegrip

I have not had the same outcome. I have been on both sides of the and in between. I have run my own little make things and sell them company, fix things co and worked for a couple of good sizes companys. I have found that you can work for a company and enjoy many positive aspects. In my case I write my own script every day and so long as I am doing a good job I am left to run my team of my own making and do my thing. This holds true as a sole prop too but the risk and added levels of work are far higher. Do good work and be valuable is key to any happy outcome. I strive to do good work and also have the time to go home and do good work there too. "Good" is time for me and the kids and a team at "work" to do my work when I am not there. Totaly unfair in a way but I get the credit when one of my guys does good under my direction. Fair in another way as I trained them all and they work in my system and matrix. I don't have to deal with the lay awake at night crap just the train, tune, act and react aspects of the job. I can take some time away from the day job and spend it at the track or on a river with the kids. Less risk is not something to dismiss when you are also putting your kids future on the table too. In my case I left an entire future track behind in order to secure a stable world for the kids. Might sound like a cop out but it is not. I enjoy my day work and my daily faimly time that is open to be spent as I see fit, not doing paperwork and making calls looking for my money as I used to do as a sole prop. At 4:00 p.m. I am looking at part two of each day. I own part two and it arives paid in full by part one.

YMMV.

Well said

[ruffyz]

Thanks for all the discussion. I can't argue with Vicegrip on "Do good work and be valuable is key to any happy outcome" nor can I argue with the risk and work being much higher. But I still can't shake the feeling.

Did most people just up and quit their day job? Did you have leads before starting on your own? Were you able to continue working while building up the startup? Did you stay in the same field or move field?

[BlackTalon]

I suspect you will find a health mix of all of the above, and not so much a 'most people'.

If you can accomodate starting up a business while still being gainfully employed, that would provide you with the best financial security. Of course if you have a few hundred $k in the bank you may not need that security, though.

Along the same vein, having some leads is best to help insure cash inflow gets going quicker. It is not mandatory, though. Again, depends on how quickly you need to have income.

[Windnsea]

If you want to go into businss for yourself or work in a start up environment, do some soul searching about why you are considering making a change and then assessing the opportunity in terms of fit with your skillsets, personality & temperment. Also assess the commerical viability of the opportunity and the related resource requirements. Make sure that you've got your financial ducks in a row (lines of credit, financial reserves ect..) to support building your business.

Net/net - Like what you do, be really good at it ensure what you do does makes a postive contribution/impact on mankind. From a business standpoint, validate that there is an established demand for your product/service. Getting a small piece of a big pie is better than a big piece of no pie. Be wary of new markets ... need deep pockets to stay in the game.

[APKhaos]

Hey ruffyz, if you are still here......

Sounds like you are young, keen, and highly motivated which is a good start. The startup/independent business world is not for everyone, but you'll never know until you try.

Short of diving in and betting the farm on something you have little experience with, you might think about getting yourself hired by a startup or a small business in your field. Think of it as entrepreneurs grad school. Look for a company with a leader with a good reputation and talk to the people in the company privately about how much they have learned from him/her. Good leaders understand that the real strength of a small company is in its people, and that every ounce of effort put into growing their skills and experience pays off many times over. Be prepared to go the extra mile every time. That way you become a valuable member of the team and someone who is likely to get more opportunity to take on new and more demanding challenges.

Choose well, and you will learn a lot about how small business works, what is important, and the level of effort involved in creating success. You'll also learn more about you; how you handle the stretch, the risk, and the stresses that are an integral part of small business life. With that under your belt, you'll be well prepared to make the kind of decision you are considering now. There's no better career path IF you are prepared to put in the work to prepare for it.

[Dr K]

Consider reading Peter Drucker's article from the Harvard Business Review (decades ago) entitled "Managing Yourself." Make sure your temperament is correct for managing a company. Drucker points out that many people are more effective and more comfortable in the #2 slot, and trying to build up your weaknesses instead of favoring your strengths is inefficient.