In a cafe, just outside Strasbourg, France - I sat with a Paul, a senior Manager at a large corporate; doing something with making rich people richer...
Paul had seen one of my blogs, been onto our website and wanted to meet to have a discussion about his new business idea..
Paul was originally from Belgium, and at 35 had a successful career in IT support, he was married with two children aged 4 and 6...
Life was good, and yet he explained that he had a yearning to essentially do what I and many others do ;
Own and run his own business...
He had got an idea, done some research and on paper at least, it worked...
He told me...
I'm very entrepreneurial...
Really...!
If had a $ for every employed person that told me how entrepreneurial they were; I'd have $7.00 by now...
So my response was..
Have you got your mobile..?
Yes...
Then text your boss now and tell her that you quit...
Silence...
Then a nervous grin, sweating, palpitations and eyes darting around for the exit...
I can't do that - I've got a mortgage, kids and my wife would kill me...
What is the #1 Fear...?
It's not fear of failure - it's the fear of how long it will take to get back to where you were before you started...
Having a job seems to be safe and secure - it's not, but that will be a different Blog post - people think that they will have stability, predictability and certainty about the future...
The RED income line seems to stretch out, unbroken into the future and this is very comforting, it means that people can relax and trade their dreams for certainty, having certainty about income is one of the limitations to starting your own business...
When a business is started, income probably drops to zero, or at least a lot lower than you've been used to - you may have savings, but fresh cash may be in short supply...
Standing looking over the precipice is scary, the thought of losing the salary, pension, car, health, dental, holiday, expanse account, status; is sometimes just too much...
The GREEN line represents income - that's a scary view...
In reality, most people's business plan, at least the one in their mind as opposed to the comedy one they give to the Bank, is to get their income back up to what it was before they started the business.
Goal # 1 - get back to where you were..
This may take some time, and it is the TIME that is really scary for some...
Zone #1
Comfort - even though you don't like your job, your boss or the people you have to be nice to because they are in the same office, the predictability and certainty are powerful if somewhat hallucinogenic drugs that conspire to keep you locked in your Comfort Cage...
Zone #2
Panic - if and when you make the leap, the time it takes the GREEN income line to get back to the equivalent of what you were originally earning is really uncomfortable. Some call it exciting, but in reality this zone and the FEAR of it, is what stops most people from making the jump..
It is also in this PANIC zone where most people quit - the FEAR gets too much and the time it is taking seems to stretch out for ever, so they go back to the Comfort Cage...
Zone #3
Made It - business is good, and your income now exceeds what you got at your previous job. The extra income you are earning has to replace the income you lost during the PANIC zone, but after that you are better off and life is good...
Only around 20% of people actually make it this far and stay there for at least 5 years; not because they failed, just that it was taking too long..
I've never lost a game I just ran out of time...
Michael Jordan
Epilogue...
So, how do you deal with the Comfort Cage and overcoming the FEAR and PANIC...?
The is no easy answer, for me it was a simple case of trusting myself that it would work out; leaving my job as a CEO to start a Transport and Logistics Company in the 1990's was a risk...
Essentially, my dreams became bigger than my Comfort Cage...
The FEAR and PANIC don't disappear, but when working on a DREAM, we just cope with it better...
So should you make the leap into business...?
Only you can decide..
Is it worth it...?
In my view - ABSOLUTELY...
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David Holland MBA is the Founder and CEO of Results Rules OK, a Business Coaching, Training and Publications Company with offices in France, Luxembourg and the UK...
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