Do You Have What it Takes to Be the Boss?
While you may secretly harbor dreams of running your own business, do you have what it takes to be the boss? Starting a business, while one of the hallmarks of the American Dream, isn't for the faint of heart.
Before you decide to quit your day job and plunk down a chunk of money on a business-in-a-box, or try to start your own firm from scratch, there are a few questions you had better ask yourself.
How much management experience do I have? Unless you are bringing experienced managers with you in order to get your new venture up and running, you are going to have to bear the responsibility of managing the business.
This means that you will ultimately bear the responsibility to hire, fire, train and supervise your entire staff.
This responsibility does not come with an operating manual.
You pretty much have to learn as you go.
However, that doesn't mean that the best way to get ahead of the learning curve is simply to wing it.
Not by a long shot.
Such things as hiring practices and procedures, training manuals, class schedules, employee handbook, company policies and procedures and other facets involved with the successful operation of your business have to be designed and implemented.
Obviously opting for a franchise will save you some of the headaches associated with this phase of the business, but it will not negate them.
To you will go the responsibility of initiating and enforcing these policies and procedures.
If you are not willing to perform these tasks, then you will have to resort to Plan "B": hiring a manager.
While there are people out there that have the experience, commitment and integrity required to assist you in running your business, don't think for a minute that hiring a manager is going to miraculously make the wheels of commerce go round and round.
All it means is that if you pays you money, you take's you choice.
You still have to deal with the copilot.
How much control am I willing to delegate to others? That brings us to delegation.
Delegation being the double edged sword that it is, you have to be comfortable with with giving up total control of your business, as well as accepting that everything won't always work out as you had planned.
You need to keep yourself from micromanaging personnel.
You have to inure yourself to the occasional personality conflict.
You need to allow subordinates to make mistakes.
If any of these prospects set your teeth on edge, then clearly you should opt for the type of business that is limited to a service-oriented nature and is not likely to require a large staff.
How many hats do I need to wear? If your background was a result of working with a large corporation, chances are your job description was fairly narrow.
If say, you have been working in marketing for the past twenty years, chances are you are quite adept at this task.
But if the boss came in the door tomorrow morning and told you that you were being transferred to HR or Sales, you might quickly find yourself experiencing a Maalox moment.
If on the other hand your experience was with a more entrepreneurial concern, odds are that you learned to wear a number of different hats.
While you were hired predominantly in a PR capacity, you may have been asked to assist in training the sales team, or even manage the company's website.
This kind of flexibility can serve you well in any new venture.
Now that's not to say that either of these situations is going to guarantee success as CEO of a new firm.
All it means is that if you were ensconced in a highly compartmentallized environment for many years, you need to acknowledge this factor when deciding on the type and scope of any startup venture that you are considering.
How big is the company likely to get? Again, if you are going to operate a business that now and forever more is likely to have few employees, then you needn't worry all that much about the growing pains that are inevitable as a business blossoms.
Far from being a cure-all, as a business prospers, the management that makes it run needs to evolve as well.
Additional space needs to be acquired.
More employees need to be hired.
Extra layers of supervision need to be added.
Anybody who doesn't think that evolution is a tortuous and many times painful process has never been to the natural science museum to goggle at dinosaur bones.
And dinosaurs by anybody's standards were one of the most successful creatures that have ever inhabited planet Earth.
If your business is not going to wind up in the bone yard at some time in the future, you as boss will have to anticipate and deal with the inevitable growing pains that all businesses go through.
You have to be prepared to put in a lot of late nights ironing out the details or straightening out the messes that inevitable crop up as a business grows.
How badly do I really want to be the boss? Of course, none of the above mean a thing if you don't have a burning desire to run your own business.
Take it from someone who has been involved in a number of startups.
If you are just toying with the idea of starting a business or franchise, think again.
While the financial rewards of owning a successful business can be as exciting as hitting the lottery, the blood, sweat and tears that come with getting the business off the ground is only slightly less painful than child birth.
Unless you are totally committed to being at the helm of a business enterprise and are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to give your firm a competitive edge, then I guess you already answered the question, "Do I have what it takes to be the boss?"
Before you decide to quit your day job and plunk down a chunk of money on a business-in-a-box, or try to start your own firm from scratch, there are a few questions you had better ask yourself.
How much management experience do I have? Unless you are bringing experienced managers with you in order to get your new venture up and running, you are going to have to bear the responsibility of managing the business.
This means that you will ultimately bear the responsibility to hire, fire, train and supervise your entire staff.
This responsibility does not come with an operating manual.
You pretty much have to learn as you go.
However, that doesn't mean that the best way to get ahead of the learning curve is simply to wing it.
Not by a long shot.
Such things as hiring practices and procedures, training manuals, class schedules, employee handbook, company policies and procedures and other facets involved with the successful operation of your business have to be designed and implemented.
Obviously opting for a franchise will save you some of the headaches associated with this phase of the business, but it will not negate them.
To you will go the responsibility of initiating and enforcing these policies and procedures.
If you are not willing to perform these tasks, then you will have to resort to Plan "B": hiring a manager.
While there are people out there that have the experience, commitment and integrity required to assist you in running your business, don't think for a minute that hiring a manager is going to miraculously make the wheels of commerce go round and round.
All it means is that if you pays you money, you take's you choice.
You still have to deal with the copilot.
How much control am I willing to delegate to others? That brings us to delegation.
Delegation being the double edged sword that it is, you have to be comfortable with with giving up total control of your business, as well as accepting that everything won't always work out as you had planned.
You need to keep yourself from micromanaging personnel.
You have to inure yourself to the occasional personality conflict.
You need to allow subordinates to make mistakes.
If any of these prospects set your teeth on edge, then clearly you should opt for the type of business that is limited to a service-oriented nature and is not likely to require a large staff.
How many hats do I need to wear? If your background was a result of working with a large corporation, chances are your job description was fairly narrow.
If say, you have been working in marketing for the past twenty years, chances are you are quite adept at this task.
But if the boss came in the door tomorrow morning and told you that you were being transferred to HR or Sales, you might quickly find yourself experiencing a Maalox moment.
If on the other hand your experience was with a more entrepreneurial concern, odds are that you learned to wear a number of different hats.
While you were hired predominantly in a PR capacity, you may have been asked to assist in training the sales team, or even manage the company's website.
This kind of flexibility can serve you well in any new venture.
Now that's not to say that either of these situations is going to guarantee success as CEO of a new firm.
All it means is that if you were ensconced in a highly compartmentallized environment for many years, you need to acknowledge this factor when deciding on the type and scope of any startup venture that you are considering.
How big is the company likely to get? Again, if you are going to operate a business that now and forever more is likely to have few employees, then you needn't worry all that much about the growing pains that are inevitable as a business blossoms.
Far from being a cure-all, as a business prospers, the management that makes it run needs to evolve as well.
Additional space needs to be acquired.
More employees need to be hired.
Extra layers of supervision need to be added.
Anybody who doesn't think that evolution is a tortuous and many times painful process has never been to the natural science museum to goggle at dinosaur bones.
And dinosaurs by anybody's standards were one of the most successful creatures that have ever inhabited planet Earth.
If your business is not going to wind up in the bone yard at some time in the future, you as boss will have to anticipate and deal with the inevitable growing pains that all businesses go through.
You have to be prepared to put in a lot of late nights ironing out the details or straightening out the messes that inevitable crop up as a business grows.
How badly do I really want to be the boss? Of course, none of the above mean a thing if you don't have a burning desire to run your own business.
Take it from someone who has been involved in a number of startups.
If you are just toying with the idea of starting a business or franchise, think again.
While the financial rewards of owning a successful business can be as exciting as hitting the lottery, the blood, sweat and tears that come with getting the business off the ground is only slightly less painful than child birth.
Unless you are totally committed to being at the helm of a business enterprise and are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to give your firm a competitive edge, then I guess you already answered the question, "Do I have what it takes to be the boss?"
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