Entrepreneurship 101

I just dialed in to a webinar provided by the career transition company that came with my severance package. Most of what they do is offer webcasts for people to participate in on writing your resume, defining your vision, interviewing, networking, launching a marketing effort, etc. There's also a series on entrepreneurship, which I'm taking. It was interesting to hear the laid-off attendees from all over the country explain why they were considering "sticking it to the man--sort of" (to quote a recent cell phone commercial).

In dulcet tones, the moderator explained that corporate America is not here for us--that's only an illusion. We think working in a company is the safe choice, but these days, she said, "as you all just found out, it really isn't." One attendee commented that all the company owes us is money for our work--yet we expect more, unrealistically. We didn't discuss it on the call, but I believe that it's only human nature to be loyal, and further, now that corporations provide much of the social safety net while government merely wages war, such an emotional transference from employee to employer is to be expected. At this point, it seems that two contracts are increasingly tenuous: that between government and citizen and that between worker and employer.

In any case, most of the session was spent on identifying what it takes to be an entrepreneur, along with resources, risks and pitfalls. My greatest concern is providing for my family with my own business--is that a reasonable or even possible expectation? Part of me feels like it is, perhaps by boosting my income with other consulting and freelancing. On the positive side, I have done much of the initial work in the last year and a half with my own business, Crazy Monkey Productions, and my debut CD release. It's now a question of taking it to the next level with increased marketing and my next CD release in 2006.

One thing is clear at the end of this session: However simple it may be, I need a plan. Between my pregnancy and multiple responsibilities flying at me at the speed of light, there isn't time to just let things unfold the way I used to, knowing that my salary will cushion any falls and guarantee the security of my children regardless of the business risks I take.