I have been asked by my teacher in Small Business Management to reflect on the pros and cons of setting up my own business. I was smug since they seem pretty obvious but then as I started to apply them to me I started to get cold sweats. For real…
Let’s start by the big and obvious one MONEY!!!!
(Under)financing might be a major issue because while I want to start small I would like garment to be produced in Laos and work with eco friendly suppliers, which is likely to raise the start up capital substantially. Where am I going to get all the start up capital??? We have already started plundering our savings so that I can develop my business ideas. And when the time comes to put money where our mouth is we will probably have...nothing left to be invested. Poor husband is already buried under the responsibility of feeding us all and keeping a roof above our heads on top of moonlighting as our production and sourcing research analyst. Entrepreneurs are often advised not to quit their day job…it is a bit late for that (I have been with no employment since April 2010). I am pretty sure you should have twins in their first year either…too late for that as well.
As for my other business partner aka the talented one, we have not talked about it yet. I totally need to get over this and just ask...but I am freaking out that it might a deal breaker. The business and I need her and her skills badly. There seems to be an understanding that I will take care of the business side of things and (consequently raising the $$) and she brings expertise and know how on the table. However is it really the type of business model I want to develop, with strict boundaries between the craft and the dough? Not sure I want to be the only ‘suit’ in this whole journey.
What about my family? There are two main problems:
1- I am supposed to be the wealthy one
2- I won’t probably tell them I am entrepreneur until I get some kind of Small Business Award or make my first $ million. I have burnt all my credits with my folks, for them I am an intellectual dreamer. My dad famously said ‘she studied so much she went crazy’ or more recently ‘she loves school so much why does not she become a professor – at least she would be paid for going to school!’. I have also heard ‘I still have no idea of what you do for a living’, ‘how many career changes did you actually have?’ and finally ‘do you actually know what you are going to do in your life I mean when you get you know serious and all???’
That is usually when this song randomly starts playing in my head
Anyway to cut the story short it is NOT going to happen.
Another common source is friends… Why don’t I know millionaires? My friends are wealthy but probably not enough to casually drop some ten thousand dollars on the spot. As I am thinking of my friends I realize that a fair amount of them are entrepreneurs themselves and I should give all these women kudos (Go girls!!!) – not in any order of preference:
Clemence Danko is opening Choc O Pain, a French Bakery and Café in Hoboken, New Jersey. Clemence was heavily pregnant when she was hunting for the perfect location for her business and now with her baby boy Kieran strapped on her she is supervising builders and contractors!
http://chocopainbakery.blogspot.com/
Laurence Mauclere Lasalle opened Xoos, a shirt boutique on posh Kings Road in London after being fed up of advising rich people how not to pay taxes. She is now pregnant and running a boutique in one of the toughest retail high street in London.
http://www.shirt-boutique.co.uk/
Pascale Moray Helyar created Styleroscks, an original business to create your own jewelry while being mum to twins Hugo and Charlotte and moving her whole family from the UK to her native Australia. Sick isn’t it?
Stephanie Thierry, mum to 3 children, fashion strategy consultant, is the ultimate serial entrepreneur and just blows my mind because she still has the most amazing laugh and tongue in cheek humor. Among her latest ventures check out her luxurious and dreamy hotel
http://www.lermitage-montsaintmichel.com/
Lisbeth Strohmenger my university mate who single handedly transformed her family’s traditional hotel, La Clairiere in La Petite Pierre, France into the first Bio Hotel and Spa of France
http://www.la-clairiere.com/index_intro.html
Ladies bravo!!! I also want to say kudos to the husbands, partners, parents who are behind you, your madness and determination.
Indeed, another key concern for me is the impact that being a business owner will have on my whole life. While I am ready to work hard and was giving myself one to two years to get my business running the prospect of waiting perhaps years before getting any significant income from it is scary. Quality of life is likely to be lower until the business gets established and entrepreneurs’ roles as wives, fathers or parents supposedly take a back seat. I am a new mum to twins and I might be risking my family’s future livelihood to chase a red herring... I keep asking myself ‘What is the worst that could happen if I open my business and it fails?’ I was a policy researcher before, would I ever be able to find another employment after a failed attempt at entrepreneurship? I suddenly thought I might be losing more than money!
When the sweat drops threaten to turn into buckets I close my eyes and think of my lady entrepreneurs out there and scream ‘C’mon!!!’. I hold you as keepsake to give me guts and stamina.
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