Today’s post includes a “blast from the past” #throwbacktuesday image made by Mary Farace in our second studio location in the Inverness Business Park in Englewood, Colorado. In the photograph, I’m unpacking and assembling a Calumet 4×5 view camera. I’m sorry I never kept that camera…
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity”—Sydney Biddle Barrows, the Mayflower Madam
I know from my e-mail that many readers work in corporate environments harboring dreams of someday being their own boss. While some may actually be planning for this eventuality, others may find that, like greatness, being an entrepreneur can be thrust upon you.
In my own situation, I had long dreamed of owning my own photographic studio and had started making plans for that day, only to get laid off/fired/terminated long before my (in my mind) scheduled departure. So along with my wife, Mary, we said “the hell with it,” and started our business the next day. I was unprepared to discover how similar our little operation was to my Fortune 500 job but the differences lie in all of the advantages of flying solo.
If you make this leap of faith, you may have to make a few sacrifices along the way in your lifestyle or maybe even quality of life. Most entrepreneurs do it because they see a future payoff. It took me many, many years to start making the kind of money I had received in corporate America and many years after that be able to afford health insurance as good as I received when I was a wage slave. That hit me hard when I was struck my Heart Failure at 48 and if that’s TMI, I apologize.
But most new entrepreneurs don’t do it for the money; they do it for the freedom. As “the boss” you have the freedom of making decisions that affect the direction of the company. This includes flexibility in making quick U-turns to adopt new policies, strategies, and technology without having to run it through a middle-management filter. (“Oh Rob, Snafu Industries could never do that!”) If you do it and it works, you’re a hero. If it flops, you gain valuable “school of hard knocks” experience.
Some people are attracted to entrepreneurial life because they want to take time off to play golf. If you received a golden parachute from your former employer that may be possible but few of us are that lucky. While you may work more hours than before, you will have flexibility in your calendar without “your boss” taking the gas pipe. If you can’t be flexible regarding spending time with your family within your work schedule, then you’re a workaholic and should consider a “real job.”
In addition to having the freedom to make decisions that affect your studio’s growth and work schedule, you also have the freedom to run an operation that perhaps has more dignity and ethical concerns than the company you left. You have the freedom to treat your clients with the kind of respect you think they deserve, not what some suit in the home office long removed from what it’s like in the real world tells you to do. For many entrepreneurs this is one of the major reasons they left what, for some, were long careers. Knowing that you “did it with integrity” will help you sleep at night and live longer and prosper.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.75, Starbucks raised the price of Earl Grey), please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.