What a Character!

Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes. Both men and women start business. Even high school students start businesses now. Even retirees from corporate America will start their own company. But besides owning a business, do these people have anything in common? Yes, I believe they do. They are all characters in the game of life experience.

Life experience plays a role in the type of person we become. Our parents and the way we were raised play a role in who we are. Our education plays a role in what we learn as we grow. Our careers play a role in what we spend our time doing…and what we wish we could spend our time doing. Some studies have been done that show a strong correlation between children of parents who have started their own business and those children growing up to start their own as well. Perhaps it is the constant reviewing bills, operating procedures, meeting with employees, and daily visits to the store that mom and dad own that help gravitate a child to starting their own business. They are familiar with it and children who are not inherent risk-takers will want to stick to what they know and feel comfortable with. Also, if the business of their parents was a positive experience and a success, the children might see that as a safe and sure way to have the kind of lifestyle they want and have grown accustomed to. The opposite could also be true – if the experience was poor or the business failed, a child may steer clear of any entrepreneurial ventures in hopes to not follow in his or her parent’s footsteps. Regardless, parental encouragement is a true indicator of whether a child has interest in starting his or her own business. My parents were very sportive of what I wanted to “be” when I grew up – but they did have strong measures for success. One is a teacher and one is a nurse so while they pushed for me to enter the College of Business, I believe their own life experiences caused this push. They were living modestly but certainly on a tight budget and neither was fully satisfied with their job. But they had friends in business that seemed to have it all. And I think they just assumed being in business was the answer. A few years ago when I started my own pet-sitting business they were very supportive of the idea; however, I was doing it part-time. I think if I was to have made the leap to full-time, they would have seen it as a risk. They didn’t really know anyone who had successfully started their own business so until college, I didn’t really even have any exposure to the idea.

Our education level can also be a factor in determining whether we start our own business or not. While I agree that entrepreneurship is a part of creativity and cannot be learned, I do feel that some of the personality traits like need for achievement and independence can be instilled in a child via parenting. While our parents could have been supportive, even having their own business doesn’t mean that we will gain the skills we need just by watching them. Often times I think children of parents who own their own business will choose not to go to college because they don’t feel it’s necessary as the family business already exists. In other cases, I have seen children who have gone through secondary education just to learn more about how to run a business effectively. No matter how much schooling a person has, if the previous people who owned the business were not educated, the business has a higher failure rate. While it would behoove a person to continue their education in order to further raise the success rate of their venture, some people will not have the personality traits or understanding to do this. I took that approach as well – I decided while I was interested in starting my own animal care company, it was best to get my education under my belt and learn how to make a business succeed and then go out and do it. I think I also felt like my customers would respect me more and have more faith in me if they saw my higher education level.

Career displacement may also affect whether a person starts his or her own business. If a chosen career path is not fulfilling or a person is not succeeding at their job, he or she may look for other avenues of earning income like starting their own company. If a person gets laid off or the structure of a business changes, there may be an opportunity for a job search that leads to starting their own company. Other times workers in corporate America may see people who run their own business as carefree and happy and wealthy and they yearn for that.

The changing of careers...I have seen two close friends go thru this exact situation this year. One resigned from his tech company as he was bored and unhappy at work. One was laid off due to elimination of his position at a law firm. Both started their own business – one a doggy daycare and one a salad shop. One started because he was excited about having his own company and finally doing what he loved to do. The other started because after months of searching for a job and coming up empty handed, he felt he had no choice. Both are succeeding but I can see the clear differences in how they run their businesses – one is carefree and laid back and it appears like he’s running a business that’s more his hobby then job. The other treats it like a true business and is very structured and professional in every aspect. It’s interesting to know both of them and see how they do things differently and to see them both actually succeeding. But like research has shown us, it takes a good five years in order for us to examine a businesses true success. I can’t wait to see what each does next!