320px-Hochosterwitz_01052004_04A follow up to last week’s post, and roughly a third of Chapter One of our Small Business Survival Guide, SBT brings you the answer to the question posed last week:


So why do people pursue the foolish pursuit of business ownership?

After working with hundreds of people who took the plunge, some common traits appear.

Truthfully, none of those is an unhealthy motivation. Interestingly, I’ve never encountered an owner who declared, “I want to build this business to change the world.” Hell, even the non-profits we work with don’t talk like that. It’s usually more personal than that, like “it frustrated me to no end to see how these companies just go waltzing into another country thinking that they are somehow doing them a favor.”

I fell under the ‘build my own kingdom’ category … and my reasons haven’t changed much over the years, even after personally undergoing the six-levels of hell outlined earlier. But more on that later.

So what if you decide that you aren’t cut out for this?

First of all, don’t be too hard on yourself. Doing anything amazingly well to support yourself is rare and commendable, regardless of the pecking order.

Secondly, if your current situation is so bad that it inspired you to pursue entrepreneurship then just redirect that momentum into one of the following:

Still think you are cut out for this?

Fine then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Stay tuned!