Twice Shy?
Michael Arrington wrote on TechCrunch about the twice-shy entrepreneur.
In the article he writes more about the difference between entrepreneurs from Bubble 1.0 who watched everything disappear down the pan…
The intense pressure entrepreneurs were under to get revenue at any cost led them to make decisions that, with hindsight, were blatantly foolish. And when the market crashed on April 14, 2000, those same entrepreneurs had to lay off most or all of their employees after making those decisions. And face outright humiliation on FuckedCompany, the site that chronicled the downfall of the Internet bubble.
It left a bit of a scar.
…and current entrepreneurs who may not carry the same sort of baggage.
But what if you were not directly affected by the Bubble? I was in Nortel and yes, the bubble was responsible for thousands of layoffs but I took voluntary redundancy in 2003, much later than the bubble. Nortel was still in it’s death spiral (which hasn’t changed, the curve just got asymptotic).
Setting up MacSys took blood, money, sweat, tears and friends. It used them up pretty much in equal quantity. The sacrifices I made are not sacrifices I would make again lightly. That’s why, even though I have a successful, profitable business under my belt, I’m still ultra-conservative.
But I’m interested in how to break out of this rut. My SO thinks I could do so much more with Mac-Sys. I’d like to do heaps more with Infurious (as well as with wow4kids, macheads, ukwifi) but time is definitely limited.
Winston Churchill - Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm
This is what I’m concerned about. I have heaps of energy for ideas but I’m currently too busy worrying to actually go through with any of them (plus the holding down a day job that I’m loathing doesn’t help).
January 8th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I don’t follow. You say MacSys, your business, is profitable and successful..so why are you doing a job you loathe as well?
January 9th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I ran MAc-Sys for 4 years, building it from nothing to being self sufficient. The guys working for me needed a chance to see if they could run it and, to be honest, I needed a change. I was turning up to work 3 days a week and staying for 2-3 hours. I needed something that would challenge me
So, in order to see the change though I went from one extreme (top dog in a small business in a small niche) to the other (project leader for massive financial company).
I find you can only really appreciate things, and spur yourself towards greater and greater things when you are faced with true adversity.
What else would I do? Sit on my laurels?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Just curious as I’m the owner of my own business and as long as it’s profitable then it’s never dull. Sure there’s boring bits you can do without but hey it’s your business and I find myself constantly investigating new sectors and doing trial runs into them.
Fingers crossed, but I hope never to go back to working for ‘the man’.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I can’t speak for your business, Will, but I have 5-6 people working for me and in order for them to learn and grow they can’t always be hanging on my coat tails either. Also - having done it and done it well, I find there are other itches that I want to scratch, other areas of my life I want to investigate.
Working for ‘the man’ does clarify and crystalise things. You quickly see what you don’t want to do for the rest of your life.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I don’t know you but reckon that if you have built up 1 successful business you won’t last long in your current job. Some Monday morning you’ll think why am I answering to this tosser or why I am making money for these people when I could make it all for myself.
I think there’s a distinct mindest that people starting their own companies have and it’s not one that transfers well to the corporate grind. I guess this is why I asked my original question, I just couldn’t put myself in your position.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I understand exactly what you’re saying. And pretty much every Sunday night I wonder why I’m doing this - but there are reasons. I enjoy some aspects of it and some aspects are simply infuriating (like why corporate types are loathe to actually MAKE CHANGE for the better)
It’s made for an interesting 6 months.