Entrepreneur

A lot of us daydream about becoming our own boss – and no wonder: nothing else offers the same level of personal satisfaction and financial reward that a successful entrepreneurial enterprise can bring. But it's important to separate the fantasy from the reality of being an entrepreneur before taking the plunge.

Many people say they want to start their own business in order to gain more control over their lives and schedules, to focus their energies on what interests them, and to earn more money for their efforts. But, at least for the short- to mid-term, it's not realistic to expect those things. You should be ready to put in 60+ hour weeks for the first few years that your enterprise is in business. In fact, the primary reason why you should only start a business doing something you love is that, for at least several years, your business will be your life.

Moreover, to be successful, you'll have to spend the better part of those 60+-hour weeks on activities you may not like: marketing, billing, filing, completing records, asking for loans, etc. Keeping clients happy may leave you longing for the days when you only had to worry about answering to your boss.

Above all, the financial rewards of your venture may not rise to your expectations. They may not materialize at all. It's true that if you establish a profitable enterprise, you can see personal and financial rewards unparalleled by any other career track. But don't forget that risk is a fundamental element of entrepreneurship, and one of the risks you'll run is seeing your enterprise fail, possibly for reasons beyond your control. Being a successful entrepreneur requires not only knowledge and skill but also the ability to roll with the punches, learn from experience, and bounce back from reversals. Many of the most celebrated entrepreneurs only achieved their success after recovering from a series of initial failures.

Obviously, there are no formal educational requirements to become an entrepreneur. In an ever-more complex economy, however, it's only realistic to recognize that any business above the micro level will have to draw on management knowledge and skills to be successful. Many businesspeople find that an MBA education is invaluable in providing them with the analytical and organizational insight and skills they need to turn an interesting idea into a profitable business.

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