Many entrepreneurs looking for start up ideas get overwhelmed with the feeling that there are so many choices and then paralyzed by the fear of choosing the wrong one. What sets real entrepreneurs apart isn’t the idea – it is the person.
There are millions of people hoping to discover the next big “thing” and they spend all their time thinking about hitting a home run, but they never step up to the plate. Then you have other folks who boldly step up to the plate and swing – they have the confidence to accept that not every swing is a home run and the common sense to know if you aren’t swinging you can’t even hit a single.
This morning I was reading From Selling Scoops Of Ice Cream To Founding ZeroCater and could relate to Arram’s determination to be an entrepreneur while he had a job:
After a year and a half at Justin.tv, I still didn’t have a startup idea, so I gave myself a deadline: I was quitting my job in six months, so I better have something paying for rent and ramen by then. I added a countdown timer to my desktop and changed my work password to “SixMonthsQuit,” something I’d be typing eight times a day.
(Sidenote: He used my absolute favorite and most effective goal setting trick – passwords with a deadline. If you are not using this, start today – change the password you use the most to your most important goal with a time deadline.)
Many years ago, I quit a good job because I knew I had to be an entrepreneur – there was no denying that was who I was and I knew I would never find happiness in a job. I didn’t have a business nor a good idea for one, but the biggest problem was I had no money. When I gave my notice, my boss who was an incredible entrepreneur asked what I was going to do and when I told him I didn’t know yet, but I needed to have my own business, he offered to fund a business with me when I found one. Seriously, the day I decided to leap – the net really did appear.
Was I lucky? Hell yes, but also I was like Arram in that I was willing to step away from the comfort of a job and be the entrepreneur that I knew I was. Was it risky? Yes, but the risk of staying in a job and getting more comfortable was not an option, as Arram said:
People say startups are risky, but for me, working at a job my entire life seemed like the worst possible outcome, so starting a company was the least risky thing I could do.
It has now been 18 years since I have had a job in someone else’s company and many years were incredibly lean and painful, but there are absolutely no regrets. While I haven’t created some household name company or sold out to Facebook or Amazon; I have hit many singles and doubles and they have added up to a fulfilling career as an entrepreneur.
I am inspired when I read a new entrepreneur making the leap, don’t miss Arram’s inspirational story.