Why I Want My Sons to Be Entrepreneurs

As my sons got into the car for the 15-minute ride to school, I shared with them a secret wish: "I hope some time during your life, you become an entrepreneur."

The 16-year old, who may be doomed to be a scientist in some government lab in New Mexico or a software developer in a cubicle farm, asked me why. To which I replied,

"Being an entrepreneur makes you more grateful, creative, and resourceful. It's a meritocracy. It doesn't matter what your education is or what family you were born into. All that matters is whether you provide value in the marketplace."

I spent nearly two decades inside large companies, including those that had monopolistic roots--a large electric utility (Commonwealth Edison) and the local phone company (US West.) I know from first hand experience that going directly from school to those kind of environments had pros and cons.  Sure, I got great experience, learned to work with others, and figured out how to please my boss.

I also adopted an entitlement mindset, quashed my creativity to conform, and did my fair share of being wasteful. Did I really need to stay at a Four Seasons Hotel in Boston for a technical meeting as a twenty-something?  How could the company ask me to pay my fair share for health benefits when I was used to getting full coverage for free?  And if meetings were dull and boring, it was because I was afraid to add my two cents in to bring some aliveness to the discussion.

See what I mean? It's so easy.

Once you work for yourself, things change dramatically. I've become grateful--for my first customer and my last. I've become resourceful--figuring out how to get work done on a shoestring using interns and high school students, in a home office, with some second hand equipment. I've become more creative--to meet the needs of a marketplace that is always providing signals.

Being an entrepreneur is not only humbling. It's empowering, thrilling, scary, and satisfying, all at the same time. Not everyone is cut out for it, but if you are, don't wait another moment. Jump in now.

Photo by nationalrural

Comments

[Paul C]

I grew up on a lovely farm in southwestern Ontario. My father, however, discouraged me from being a farmer. He had lived through the Great Depression and struggled to build a prosperous business. "Be a teacher, son." So I went off to university and became a teacher which I enjoyed thoroughly. But I always wondered what it would have been like to be an entrepeneur on the farm.

[Carol Ross]

Thanks, Paul for your touching comment. I can see how your father would have counseled you in the way he did. My father dreamed of being an entrepreneur. (He was a technician for a manufacturer of trucks with roots in farming equipment, International Harvester.)In mid-life, he got his chance to open up a Chinese restaurant in northern Indiana. He wasn't a business person and eventually, had to declare bankruptcy. After that, he went back to being an employee and was never the same. So for many years, the unspoken lesson in our family was, "Being an entrepreneur is risky. You could lose everything." It's taken me a lifetime to turn that belief around.

So, my suggestion is that if you have any entrepreneurial inklings, to follow them and see where it leads you. Obviously the path you've chosen so far suits you well (loved your blog, btw) AND we all have permission to have more than one career in our lifetime!