Think Like An Entrepreneur

by Michael E. Gordon, PhD

I know from personal experience that entrepreneurship is a tool that can create great wealth and personal enrichment in your life. Six of my 11 start-ups were a success, and I eventually sold the best one to a public British company for a handsome profit. The five non-successes (the word failure is not in my vocabulary), while they never generated revenue, did not weaken me at all. In fact, they enriched my chances of future success immeasurably because of what I learned and applied.

Entrepreneurial Misconceptions

The entrepreneurship literature is full of paralyzing drivel about the failure rates of new startups, the massive sacrifices entrepreneurs must make, the loss of job security, the financial risks, the long hours, the stress and frustration, and so on and so on . . . I have two words for all of this:

Bull Cookies!

Look around you and imagine the vast wealth in businesses. Every business, from the largest to the smallest, resulted from entrepreneurship. According to BizStats.com, there are 24 million businesses in the United States, of which 18 million are sole proprietorships–owned and operated by one individual. Many small business owners are also part- and full-time employees while they maintain their day jobs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003 alone (most recent figures available), almost three quarters of a million Americans started their own businesses.

The fact is, if you take it thoughtfully, step by step, your chances of success are excellent.You need less talent, skills, industry knowledge, money and other resources than you may believe. If you control your financial exposure and don’t make it on the first attempt, you’ll be better prepared for the next start-up. You can outsource most functions (design, manufacturing and packaging, marketing and sales, distribution and shipping, and accounting) and the resources you can mobilize on the Web are nearly limitless.

I never feel more alive than when I am on the entrepreneurial trail. I could never have made in any job the kind of money I have made as my own boss. Stress and frustration? The worst career stress and frustration I ever experienced was working for someone else, accepting a nominal salary, putting up with corporate political nonsense, and lacking the personal freedom to pursue my owninnovative, value-creating ideas.

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Michael E. Gordon, PhD, is the author of Trump University Entrepreneurship 101: How to Turn Your Idea into a Money Machine (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). Dr. Gordon teaches corporate entrepreneurship at universities around the world, and to date has started six successful companies. Currently Michael is President of http://www.AngelDeals.com, an Internet business that helps entrepreneurs find funding, and the Center for Competitive Success (www.CompetitiveSuccess.com), a management consultancy. He is an Adjunct Professor at Babson College, the Harvard University Extension School, and the International School of Management in Paris.