Over the past few weeks, I’ve attended two launch parties for friends who have thrown themselves into new entrepreneurial projects – Inner Golf and KidClub. With a couple of kids each, mortgages and solid careers, the decision to throw their hats into the entrepreneurial ring is obvously something not done lightly.
As I tried to escape my friend’s children’s activity centre yesterday, it struck me that we’re in the midst of a entrepreneurial renaissance. It seems wherever you turn, folks are striking out on their own rather than working for the man. In the high-tech world, for example, it has probably never been easier to become an entrepreneur given the cost of development, distribution and marketing have never been cheaper. There’s probably a multitude of reasons why it has become sexy to become an entrepreneur – some of it may be related to work-life balance, some due to a backlash to Corporate America, and some due to the fact the Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 job is disappearing as we work longer and different hours.
That said, it’s not easy to be an entrepreneur because it’s fraught with volatility and uncertainly, which is the antithesis of the stability that most people want. When I co-founded Blanketware in 2001, it was my first real experience as an entrepreneur and, to be honest, I’m not sure I completely embraced the concept because being a newspaper business journalist was still very much in my blood. This time around – working for b5media – the plunge into the entrepreneurial word seems much more comfortable, and I can’t imagine going back and working for a company without having a stake in the game.
What’s changed for me over the past five years? With a wife and three kids, I should, in theory, be more conservative about my career choices. But for some reason, I’ve become even more entrepreneurial. Maybe it has to do with watching entrepreneurs over the past decade and thinking, ‘Hey, I could do that too’, or maybe it has to do with working for large companies for the past 20 years and thinking “You know, been there, done that, time for something else.’ Whatever the reason, I’ve embraced the entrepreneurial world, and encouraged when friends also decide to take the plunge.
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I don’t think there is a better time to be an entrepreneur than right now. I think people feel the need to create their destiny not only in life but professionally as well.
Family time or time for life are big motivators but look at the process of getting to work these days, if you commute into the city every morning some commutes are as long as 1/2 your working hours, the cost of gas, stuck in traffic etc etc.
Get out there, create and build.
I agree, although I am working myself for a relatively young company, without a stake in its growth, I don’T see myself staying much longer. Today’s fast moving business environment demands long and sometimes strange hours, so might as well have some sort of stake in it instead of just trying to keep up.
Mark:
When talking about entrepreneurship, you should differentiate between being the majority shareholder in a startup with your house, lifelong savings, and responsibility for meeting weekly payroll versus working in a startup with money invested and / or a stake in the venture’s success. The former has a completely different level of risk (and reward), stress, and responsibility…and is not for the faint of heart…
It feels like that in Montreal as well. I know many people (including me) who’ve left the comfort of a full-time job position to jump in the entrepreneurial/Internet start-up fray. Kid, mortgage and solid career: the definition of my life until last summer! But I still took the plunge. And it feels good.
BTW, in the project I’m working on, I think there might actually be a partnership opportunity with B5 Media. I’ll keep you posted.
Sebastien: Sounds interesting.
E Guy: You’re absolutely right about the degrees of entrepreneurship.
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