‘Should I Become an Entrepreneur?’

October 4, 2016

Image: Newsboy/via National Library of Norway, circa 1900-1923

It’s been more than two years since I quit my full-time job as a group leader at a biotechnology company and “went out on my own,” starting a company that is partly based on consulting work and partly product-oriented. It has been much longer since I left academia, but while I was working at a biotechnology company, I was on a fairly standard post-academic career path for people in my field. Since I've left that path, I’ve noticed a change in how people interact with me when I describe what I do. People don’t always know how to respond.

When I first set out in this new direction, people were politely supportive but also more than a little skeptical. I can see why. Starting a company is a big risk, and the hybrid business model of my company is unusual. It has worked for me, though, and I’ve been able to bring in enough money to pay my bills and invest in growing my business. Now, with two years of continued business behind me, I look less like someone living her dream on the strength of savings and her partner’s job, and more like someone with a viable career path. A description of my work is more likely to elicit curiosity than skepticism today, and people often ask me for advice about whether they should become an entrepreneur.

I can’t answer that question.

No one can, except the person asking it. However, I can point out some things you should think about first — whether you are planning a consulting business in which you sell your services or a company in which you develop and sell a product. Assuming that you have the basics covered — like a business plan and the technical skills needed to execute it — there are still four key questions that I think you should ask yourself before you start a company.

What is my tolerance for risk? That’s a multi-faceted question:

  • The practical side: You need to take a hard look at your finances and know what your “runway” is — that is, how long you can afford to pursue this idea. I don’t have much to say about this step, except “don’t skip it.” Pamela Slim’s book,Escape from Cubicle Nation, helped me think through the practical side of risk, and there are no doubt many other resources as well.
  • The emotional side: This aspect is less commonly discussed but equally important. How will you feel without a regular source of income? Will you be able to hold your nerve and continue to execute your plans even when your company is in an early stage and not much money is coming in? Will worrying about money ruin your quality of life? How much extra money would you need in your savings to make it so that worrying about money won’t ruin the quality of your life? Really think about these questions. Force yourself to be honest.

Include your partner (if you have one) in these considerations. One of the things I learned when exploring these questions with my husband: He has a high tolerance for things I consider physically risky — like sky-diving or bungee jumping — but he has a lower tolerance than I do for financial risk. Therefore, I calibrated the financial plan for my business to allow us both to sleep at night.

How well do I self-direct? Most former academics have a head start in this area, but there are differences between starting a business and leading a research project. The metrics for success, the consequences of unexpected outcomes, and the threshold for changing direction are all different. Also, until you find a good business mentor, you will be self-directing without the sort of guidance you enjoyed from your academic adviser or dissertation committee.

Do you know how to define priorities and set meaningful and useful goals that will advance those priorities? Can you make a plan to achieve those goals and then execute it? How will you behave with no external accountability other than your bank account? Again, force yourself to be honest as you consider these questions.

If your honest answers lead you to identify weaknesses in those areas, you don’t necessarily need to abandon your business plans. But you do have to think about how you’ll mitigate those weaknesses. Can you get some focused coaching to help you learn how to set goals and make plans? What sort of processes and tools might you use to help keep yourself accountable?

Regardless of your answers, look for a business mentor or a group of mentors. I was fortunate to know someone who gave me good advice early on about the consulting side of my business, and he continues to provide occasional ideas. Still, one of my early mistakes was relying too heavily on my husband as a sounding board for my ideas. That wasn’t fair to him, and it wasn’t fair to my business. We are both happier now that I’ve built up a circle of peer mentors.

How do I feel about marketing and self-promotion? No matter what your company does, you’ll need to market it and promote your products. If your product is a service you offer, that means you’ll need to promote yourself. Even if you are selling other products, personal promotion is often part of your marketing plan. Can you promote yourself? Will you promote yourself? How will it make you feel? How do you feel about marketing?

If you think of marketing as a distasteful, necessary evil, you probably won’t succeed in starting a business.

The good news: Many resources are out there to help you get better at marketing. There are also people who can help you develop a marketing plan on a contract basis. Former academics often bring with them negative associations about the need to make money from their work. Academic culture permeates every aspect of your life when you work at a college or university, and I found that even though I was starting a company 15 years after I’d left academia, I was still operating under some of the assumptions I’d absorbed during my time there.

My feelings about marketing were tied up with those ingrained assumptions, and that led me to hobble my company at the outset. I did not invest enough time in creating a marketing plan and I did not do enough self-promotion. Once I recognized that, I took steps to correct it. But I can’t get back the lost time, and I wish I had examined my feelings about marketing earlier. Marketing will never come easily to me, but if I want my business to succeed, I have to do it. So will you.

How will I balance my company with the rest of my life? According to an old joke, an entrepreneur is someone who works 12-hour days to avoid an eight-hour work day. The truth underneath that joke is that starting a business is a lot of work. In addition to the core business, there are many administrative tasks — some of which will be unfamiliar and some of which may seem like they pop up out of nowhere to derail your day. Especially at first, it is easy to forget to plan for these tasks, and before you know it, that 12-hour day is far too close to reality.

Starting a business will always be a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to take over your entire life. In fact, it will probably be more successful if it doesn’t. I’ve written before about managing my time and how boundaries help me to be more productive. I won’t repeat those points here, but I will note that — even as someone who has actively thought about productivity and time use for years — I found the transition to entrepreneurship challenging. I had to change some of my time-use methods to handle a new work reality where I felt more pressure to always be producing something that could make money and keep my business solvent.

Starting a business is a roller-coaster ride. It can be exhausting and lonely, but also exhilarating. It is not for everyone. If you think it might be for you, pause and reflect on these four questions before you incorporate. Because if you decide to proceed, you want to be able to enjoy the ride.