Outside the Cocoon

Employee vs Entrepreneur

For the last few weeks I have been contemplating entrepreneurial thinking vs employee thinking.  The idea is not my own, I got it from Barbara Winter who is teaching a workshop on this subject.  The topic fascinates me.  Having spent 17 plus years in the cubicle farm myself I feel certain that I have been deeply imprinted with employee thinking.  Since I am not yet successful entrepreneur I can only try to imagine the difference.

It seems that employee thinking must be the norm in western society, dictating that work be validated by dollars.  We are raised on the idea of hourly pay, steady pay for steady work.  The irony of course is that this is an illusion.  As employees we are not steady workers.  We may put in our time in steady increments but hour in and hour out are we always worth our X amount of dollars?  Aren't we at times worth more and other times worth less?  As employees we are not used to putting in a days work without a days pay.  If we didn't get paid it must mean that we didn't work.  Conversely, if we made money we must have been working, as in the four letter word WORK, implying that there was at least some part of it that was disagreeable.

How does a fledgling entrepreneur forge ahead when faced with the two commonly accepted myths of work is only work if you made money and didn't have fun doing it?  Starting out if you are lucky you may make a little money but chances are that you have actually logged a lot of "work" hours before you see that first paycheck.  Worse still if you are going out on your own to pursue a path of your own choosing you probably have actually enjoyed most of the activities (work) that you have done.  This can be very confusing to a person who is ingrained with employee thinking and their assumption is likely to be that these activities that were enjoyable and did not bring in any revenue must not have been work.  Therefore the wanna be entrepreneur is trapped somewhat by feelings that they must certainly be doing something wrong.

As an employee we are used to having input and requests from multiple sources.  We have constant reminders of what we should be working on.  As novice entrepreneurs we select something to work on.  We hope we are choosing wisely but there is no one there to confirm our decision.  The road is curved and bumpy we stumble, we learn, our progress is painfully slow but we move ahead.  Perhaps we are beginning to untangle the ropes that bind us to employee thinking.  We may be starting to believe the words of Michelangelo - "Faith in oneself is the best and safest course."

Is Conventional Wisdom Really Wise?

Anyone who has "the dream" of being an entrepreneur has their own reasons for making this challenging transition.  For me it is mostly about freedom.  The freedom of choice and movement vs the stagnant sedentary life in a cubicle.  It's about the freedom to create something.  Something that only I can create.  Others might do it better or faster or bigger but no one will do what I can do the way I can do it. 

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that the odds are against us.  You don't have to look very far to find statistics on how many new businesses fail or why they fail.  The naysayers would have you forget the American dream.  But small businesses, micro businesses and solopreneures or non employer firms are on the rise. According to the Center for Womens Business Research a full 75% of firms do not have employees.  In his book "Free Agent Nation" Daniel Pink, former White House staff writer, discusses the shift in America from organization man to independent worker.  In March of this year the McKinsey Quarterly published an article on the revolution in health insurance, stating that individuals and not groups (ie: companies) are becoming the decision makers for their own health insurance.  All these things seem to be positive indicators for those of us venturing out on our own. Still working for yourself is not the norm and the conventional wisdom of gloom and doom prevails.  It's palpable in the brief conversations I have when I say I am trying to start my own business.  No one says "oh that will never work" or "what are you thinking" but those messages are clearly in the air.  Perhaps it is just my own insecurity about the whole thing or perhaps it is real.  Either way, I must overcome this feeling if I am going to make this transition from employee to entrepreneur, from conventional to unconventional.

Ironically my goals have never included being conventional and yet somehow I have ended up living much of my life according to convention.  Conventional wisdom makes our decisions easier but in the end they are often not our own. 

It is difficult to go against the established norms but clearly the dreamers and innovators must do so.  You can not innovate within the confines of convention nor is there much room to dream.  This is where I find myself today, no longer fitting inside the boundaries of my conventional life, dreaming and working toward that dream, gathering courage, tripping, hoping.

So here's to the foolish dreamers.  To all of us who dare to think the impossible may actually be possible. To those who understand that convention has its place but needs to be kept in it.  To those of us trying to move forward through our fears of failure and possible ridicule.  To all who believe in the power of their dreams enough to try and reach for them.

" To achieve the marvelous it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought."  - Tom Robbins -