Local Entrepreneur Fair... UGH!

[Mike.B]

I just attended a local entrepreneur fair and I have to say this was one of the most painful things I’ve had to sit through. Just about every speaker touted the phrase “You don't own your business, your business owns youâ€.


Wow, really?


They had local business owners talk about their experiences and how hard it is running a local business.
One owner said she had only taken a vacation twice in the last eleven years and she's constantly working weekends to finish paperwork. I can't believe anybody would be excited about this!


The slowlane mindset was almost unbearable!


Then a lady from the local chamber presented some business data that, to say the least, was out of date.
She was trying to sell people on creating businesses that are dying or already dead (e.g. local book store).


When I asked her about the fact that some of these businesses had already been here and had since closed, she obviously side stepped the question. After she spoke for awhile longer, I started to realize how out of touch these people really are.


Overall, this was a horrible experience. I can't believe that anyone could sit through a seminar like this and come out thinking, this is really what I want to do.

 

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[theBiz]

you should be happy, if everyone knew what MJ was teaching it would only make things harder, i LOVE ignorant people, makes competing against them easier. I also love competition that does not save their money.....

 

[Atom]

Question everything.

 

[Sharp]

It depends. I think that is why there is such a disparity between employees and entrepreneurs. Some people do what they love or open a franchise but they are limited to what they have and with limited scale, they have to put hours and work so that their business is their one hit wonder.

I used to work at A&W burgers, and two brothers owned it and worked on it. They did not take one day off, and whenever something went wrong, they had to visit the place. Their life revolved around their business. One could become wealthy from that, but its not fastlane. It's imprisonment.

 

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[Autonomust]

It sounds like these business owners don't have any time delegation strategy whatsoever. IMO their using their flaws to spread negativity instead of asking for help to improve themselves and the efficiency of their business.

 

[Ska2free]

What's amazing to me is that this variation of small business ownership is exactly what's peddled by most community or govt sponsored seminars. I see announcements for them frequently in our local paper, and the idea is sold in large national mags as well...the idea being "hey, you've been laid off...what a great opportunity to turn your hobby into a business". But while perhaps this works for a handful of people, it seems doomed for failure for most. First of all, the hypocrisy of a salaried employee (either of the govt or a university) trying to teach others how to take the risk of being self employed is clearly problematic. Or perhaps you have a successful business person teaching the seminar...but then are they successful because of what they are teaching or because they've made a business of teaching?

 

[Russ H]

...I used to work at A&W burgers, and two brothers owned it and worked on it. They did not take one day off, and whenever something went wrong, they had to visit the place. Their life revolved around their business. One could become wealthy from that, but its not fastlane. It's imprisonment.

Gerber's EMyth covers this in detail-- specifically, how to make the transition from being an Entrepreneur to being a Business Owner.

It ain't easy.

Unfortunately, too many folks read the great books about "owning your own business" and figure, "Hey, I'll start a biz, hire me a bunch of great people, and let the biz just crank along and run itself".

Doesn't work that way. Every time you step away from your business, you need to make sure there are systems and people in place that, in essence, are running the business.

It's far too easy to let a business go on autopilot, and find out (too late) that it's in the red. We've had posts/threads on these forums from folks where this has happened. Hell, it happened to us.

Starting a biz, growing it, and then figuring out how to make it run without a lot of day-to-day is a real challenge. But it's worth doing, if you're so inclined.

Just don't buy the dream of "running your own show" and NOT expect to put in a helluva lot of time/effort to get it off the ground.

And, once your entrepreneurial phase of the biz is over, be prepared to make the transition to a "real" (ie, established) business. One that will last-- or can be sold, for a nice profit, b/c it is a great revenue generator.

-Russ H.

 

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[AnthonyKrese]

I also loathe the successful business person (entrepreneur) who hasn't ever done anything outside of teaching people how to start a business. "I've created multiple six figure business (under breath) teaching people how to create six figure businesses."

I've seen a few of these folk, especially online, dabble in other markets and get destroyed. Not that there is anything wrong with failing (at all). My point is, and some of them don't realize this, it's a lot easier to sell snake oil.

 

[pstchaseki]

I actually plan on expanding upon my home business as well as working on various e-commerce opportunities. However, there may be a bit of a difference between my line of work over running a retail/restaurant/manufacturing co. I am a connoisseur of all things digital media (comp graphics/motion graphics/web/cinema/photo). Therefore, I just sit at home working on various projects unless I need to go out to shoot with camera, which I absolutely enjoy doing. Yeah there's been cases where I spent 10-12 hours straight working on something, but I am HOME.

Currently I am brainstorming on three websites which I think has potential to be financially lucrative. I personally know of somebody who does all the things I am involved. He runs a digital media boutique from his home, and produces/maintains/and sells income sites. He makes just over 50k a month and continues to expand and grow.

I hope this was more of an inspiration & motivation over the convention you attended.

 

[Sky]

My point is, and some of them don't realize this, it's a lot easier to sell snake oil.

It's easier to sell a promise than a product.

They had local business owners talk about their experiences and how hard it is running a local business.
One owner said she had only taken a vacation twice in the last eleven years and she's constantly working weekends to finish paperwork. I can't believe anybody would be excited about this!

When I had my own business, it was a great accomplishment for me. I pulled 70-100 hour weeks and I finally was able to own something I was proud of. Oh, how pride can blind you. I came from a family that believed that hard work and long hours of dedication was a virtue. Many people are raised in this fashion and for the longest time, I thought I was doing the right thing. Now I realize that wealth is not only measured in cash, but the free time you have and the relationships you build with others. Which, to say, I was dead broke in. I lost contact with so many of my friends and I couldn't even name most of my little cousins. Let alone, attend their birthdays or even births! And don't even let me get started on my love life... :smx4:

After a grueling 80 hour work week, I was finishing up some paperwork, by myself, on a saturday night. I thought to myself, is this really it? I knew there was something else out there but was afraid to try. When MJ was talking about those who work for the weekends and getting plastered at the bar, I thought he was talking about me.

I recently am trying to start another business, taking my knowledge now and applying it, and attended a small business seminar and there were many people like my old self who had dreams of owning their own business. Forgive me when I winched when they started talking about brick and mortar shops in a urban sprawled environment. One lady, who I believed to be Nigerian, wanted to know how to open her own bank. To which, in my mind, her husband was probably a a Nigerian prince with 200 million dollars and needed a place to stash it. If that was true, I gave him my bank account information a long time ago and still waiting to receive the funds...

Anyhoo, my experience was the same as yours. It's all about how you see it. Either the business owns you or you own the business. If your looking for true wealth, then you already know the answer. Let me tell you this, I make alot less money than I did before, but I feel wealthier now than I did back then.

MJ's book helped open my eyes and for that I'm eternally grateful. Ha! Grateful is a word I usually don't use very often. Maybe I should do now.

 

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