So You Want to Start a Business?

Another Entrepreneurial Seizure and Another Business is Born!

First, tell me if one of these scenarios sounds familiar to you. These are stereotypic situations of the entrepreneur before he or she starts their business. If you currently own your own business or if you are thinking of starting your own business see if you can spot yourself here…

It usually starts out with you working for someone else – you have a job! And in that job you have a certain skill or expertise. You are a bookkeeper, a computer programmer, a chef, a banker, a doctor, a lawyer, a salesperson, or any of a number of occupations employed by someone.

Then one day, seemingly out of the blue, you decide that you’ve had enough. You say to yourself, “I could do this on my own. Why am I working for these people? Any idiot could run a company, my boss is living proof of that!”

Or, just as likely in today’s economy, you are laid off. Apparently the company no longer needs your services, regardless of how good you were!

Well, if at that moment, just like deciding to quit, you think about starting your own business, then, you just had an Entrepreneurial Seizure! Welcome to the design creative club.

The term Entrepreneurial Seizure is a term I learned when I read Michael Gerber’s book The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. This book is a must read if you are thinking of starting a business. It’s also invaluable to existing business owners.

In a nutshell The E-Myth shows you how to overcome what Gerber (and I) believe is the “Fatal Assumption” of almost all new business owners:

The Myth is believing that If you understand the technical work of a business (for example how to bake a cake), you also automatically understand a business that does the technical work (in this case a bakery business).

You see you actually need to be three people at once to build a successful start up business. You need to be The Entrepreneur – the visionary and courageous individual willing to start the business; The Technician – the person who knows how to bake the cake, and The Manager – the person who knows how the business of baking works.

So here’s the most challenging part of overcoming the Fatal Assumption after you’ve had your Entrepreneurial Seizure… Very few have the skills to be The Manager

So what can you do?

Enter The Franchise Model!!!!

A franchise business allows you to employ your technical skills and stretch your entrepreneurial creativity while giving you a system that replaces The Manager.

Today you can find franchising models in all sorts of industries. So if you’ve recently had, or think you’re about to have an Entrepreneurial Seizure, check out franchises.

In a follow-on article I will talk more about different types of franchise models and later I’ll cover how to make your existing business run like a well oiled franchise.

In the meantime, if you would like to see how my partners and I connect all the dots and build solid businesses through our favorite franchise business, click here. You be taken to our website which is aptly named “Now Connect The Dots”

Happy business building!