Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

This was the response I recently got to the question, “Why do you want to start your own business?” This would-be entrepreneur was personable, smart and totally off-base. (And, please small biz owners out there - quit laughing, the poor guy really doesn’t know any better!)

This is one of those “red flag” questions that can make me appear brutal in client discussions. Being the boss is a hard job - and even harder if you want to be a good one.

As we go through the entrepreneur sanity check, I also ask, “How many hours are you willing to work?” And, “Are you prepared to fail?” This gets particularly sticky when I’m talking to a couple; all too often, one of them is “willing to spend 20 hours or so a week on sales” while the other is thinking more like 80. Uh-oh. The wife is raring to go, max out those credit cards, clean out the retirement fund and get this thing bootstrapped! The husband is breaking out in a cold sweat at the idea of any debt and is looking to me to guarantee they’ll succeed (which I can’t.) And so it goes.

So, if you’re thinking it sounds fun to be an entrepreneur (and it is) - just make sure you’re looking at hard, cold reality (and that you and your partners, in both life and business, are on the same page.)

Some related posts: Let’s get small (or size does matter.) Small is a state of mind. Can we learn (or teach) entrepreneurship? You’ve got have a box before you can burn it.

Tags: entrepreneur sanity check, entrepreneur, business planning