Entrepreneurship: Sometimes it’s NOT a Choice

From our experience globally, and my personal experience, Entrepreneurship is sometimes not AN option - it’s the ONLY option.

I moved to the U.S. and was not able to secure a job. I was living from couch to couch for more than six months, which forced me to figure out a different way to make a living.

I needed to find a problem I could solve, or an opportunity in which I could provide value, which would allow me to generate the money I needed to get my own place.

What has surprised me, in talking over the decades since to entrepreneurs around the planet is that my experience was not unique. Many people I’ve met started exactly as I did - having no other option but to start a business of my own.

Although it’s not the ideal, it is one way that you learn that you have to leverage the resources you have, rather than the resources you wish you had.

Here is how I started:

In 1999, I began selling t-shirts to non-profit organizations. I sold them at a wholesale price, so they could raise funds by selling them at retail prices. It was a simple matter of doing the math: How many do I need to sell at the wholesale price to be able to pay rent and buy food?

I leveraged what I had.

I asked for a small percent of the order up front. They didn’t know that I needed that money to place the order to buy the t-shirts in the first place. It went like this:

25% down when placing the order

25% due at first proof of the design

25% due upon delivery of the first batch of shirts

25% due at completion of the full order

I learned that many of them welcomed this arrangement because they believed it was my right to assure they were serious about the order.

Over the years we’ve seen that many start-up entrepreneurs sometimes skip the step of asking for money up front and find themselves, as a result, with serious cash flow problems.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

Before you think that entrepreneurship is an option, or if you do have an entrepreneurship option, think about how you can leverage the resources you already have. This simple step could change your idea of when and how to start your business.