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Self Employment Phobia Let's face it, starting a new
business venture for most folks is about as scary as Let's take a wide eyed glance at the mental gymnastics involved in setting yourself up in business. There's a certain amount of boldness that has to be employed to thrust any new venture into 3-dimensional form. Boldness is the power that makes it happen. Risk is the price. Your scheme, notion or idea is so personal it takes guts to place it in the public spotlight. You could be ridiculed, embarrassed or worse yet fail. The thing is, you've got to love the challenge as much as the success if you want to succeed in business. The possibilities are endless once you go through that door. There are no guarantees. You can end up being the laughing stock of the neighborhood or become a national hero. Those are the rules of the game. You have to accept that going in. If we're going to be brutally honest here and not gloss over the facts just to make a point in the opposite direction we must note that half of all new businesses fail in the first two years. So our first lesson is, only the strong survive in this game of willpower. We're beginning to identify some specific and genuine fears here. The fear of failure is a legitimate concern. No one wants to be disgraced. That's not to elevate the inaction of those who do not try. I commend those who have reached for the vine and fallen. They are brave souls who have laid it all on the line for their beliefs. If we criticize those who have stepped out of the rank and file with their crazy business ideas we only make it more difficult for ourselves when have our own brainchild to show the world. It would be well to view your early entrepreneurial attempts as your business school initiation. People pay good money to sit in a classroom and learn what you are experiencing first hand. If it's any consolation know this, the people who succeed usually do so after having many failures along the way. There are no great words of wisdom to hang your hat on in these matters. All you can do is stay light on your feet. Roll with the punches and hang in there as long as you can. If you get the tar knocked out of you, lick your wounds, develop a new plan and get back in the game. In the long run or in the short run, if you get lucky, you will come out a winner. Fear stops most people from taking the leap, as it does with most things in life. Fear is the destroyer of dreams. You have a dream. Fear enters your mind and now you have to choose between going with your dream or giving in to your fear. Listen. I'm certainly no monument to bravery, but if you've spent most of your life doing something you hate, why not try doing something you like. Only don't wait 'til it's too late. Grab hold of that vine now. There's freedom, joy and maybe something you didn't expect to find on the other side, an inner strength and fortitude that can sustain you in difficult times. OK, we've taken a long hard look at the perceived dangers of becoming self employed. So why would anyone risk dangling over the canyon of lost causes when so many others have slipped and plummeted into the black abyss? The reason is something not easily put into words. It's a state of mind that you have to experience by doing, by giving yourself over to it. It gets into your soul and you can't live without it. I describe it as self employment addiction. Once you have imbibed the sweet intoxicating nectar of this free lifestyle you never want to go back to the salt mines from whence you came. It's a bitter fountain there from which folks drink, and to drink there after being free may be the most demoralizing assault your spirit could endure. Are self employed people cut from a different bolt of fabric than the rest of humanity that they are willing to endure these incredible challenges? Or are they as some say, just shiftless mavericks who can't or won't march in lockstep unison with the rest of society? Perhaps the answer lies in their passion about their work and ideas. To them working for someone else is like being in prison. People say "why don't you get a real job?" When I hear those words my brow furrows and a distant, glazed look comes over my eyes as if I'm in a trance and I start to visualize what a real job would be like. I see myself a captive like Ben Hur, chained to the oar of a Roman Galley. Rows of men sit hunched over their oars. Muffled coughs hang in the stifling air like vultures circling their prey. A smartly dressed Roman steps up on a low, rough wooden platform. No one has to announce his eminent position in the empire. The Rolex and the $200 hair cut say all that and more. It is the Tribune himself who has come to address the untouchables. He stares at the pathetic group before him for a few agonizingly silent moments. Then a dry smile parts his lips and he speaks with no more compassion than if he were ordering a pastrami on rye, "we keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well and live!" He punctuates his terse message with a flourish of his scarlet cape and escapes up the ladder to the fresh sea air and his awaiting helicopter. From out of the gloom up front a deep jarring sound emanates that penetrates both flesh and fiber. Boom, boom, boom, solemn and slow the drum beat begins. Then as if the master switch had been thrown on an assembly line the creaking of oars can be heard as a couple dozen sweaty bodies all start rowing at once. Day after day they row. Never seeing anything but the hull of the ship and their oars. The drum beats on. The only break from the tedium is an occasional lashing from the whip of the overseer. "Thank you sir, I needed that. I'll row better now." Yeah, that's about how I see it. I suppose some people find security in that. There is a trade off for everything in life and I guess you have to do some serious soul searching to decide what is really important to you. There may be times when you have to take a job to make ends meet but the freedom you felt when you were on the outside will haunt your every waking moment. I'll hold off on getting a real job as long as I can and row to the beat of my own drum, at least 'til my arms give out. Even then I might try to hang on a little while longer using my legs. I'm sure I'll have to invent some new kind of oar in order to do that. Hmmm, on second thought there might be some money to be made with this rowing thing after all. If I could just get all the other guys to demand those new oars... See! That's what it's all about, the art of business. Recognize a need, find a way to fill that need and after all is said and done, try to come out not losing your shirt. It's a story as old as Marco Polo. In the final analysis it's not a question of can you start a business. You can! The question is do what you want to. If you do, there will be hardships. There will also be innumerable joys. Overall it's a roller coaster ride that will make your head spin and at times make your blood boil. You'll love it and hate it probably both at the same time. When the ride is over and you finally have time to contemplate the amazing journey you have taken, I'm betting you won't regret a single minute of it. Your place in the future is waiting for you. Will the you that fills it be the bold one, the one that took the high road. The rarefied air in the stratosphere is not for everyone. The climb is too steep, the price too high for their efforts. We are here to feel, to experience the contrasts of life. The richness of this adventure can be experienced as a joy or as hell. It's all in the way you let your mind interpret it. You may not have a deep abiding faith that you can hold your own against all odds, but you might have an urgent pressing feeling that you want your life to make a difference. What we are is not determined by our birth but by what we do. Will you do what you wanted to, what you were meant to? The time is now. Pick out a good strong vine and shove off for the far shore. If you're really feeling daring you can give out with a mighty yell as you propel your flailing form across the chasm just to keep the crocodiles from getting bored. A word to the wise from those who have been there, tucking up of the legs is highly recommended!
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