Expectations Management

I don’t know how many times I have been asked to explain why I like being an entrepreneur, why I turn down offers that pay me two to three times more than what I take home every month and why I think that in the long run working for oneself is the way to go. Every now and then I run across a client or a friend who wonders why they should leave their well paying jobs and put themselves and family at risk.

To my mind the first step is expectations management. I work for myself for a long list of reasons. The most important of these to me are:

1. More control over my destiny, actions and choices. As an employee every now and then you will come across an opportunity where your heart will scream inside that this is it. This is the one long shot you have waited for all of your life. If you are part of an open progressive organization there is a chance that you will be allowed to take that shot as long as you can convince the right individuals in the right hierarchy. But in most cases despite your best efforts your institution will force you to walk away from the one sure thing that life offered you. You will end up dancing to other tunes with little or no control over your actions, the events around you and the choices made by your team. I have worked for 8 years for others till it got to a point that the utility of making simple decisions like restricting travel or focusing on a specific sector, or outsourcing work became higher than the monetary value of my paycheck. When that time came, I packed up my storage boxes and went off on my own.

2. But control is only part of the equation. An equally important driver for me was the much larger share available to me in the value that I create in my organization. Starting from revenues and profitability in the short term to goodwill and intellectual property in the long term. Not matter how hard I worked or how many breakthroughs I made or how much good will I created, in the end when I walked away from my employer I left all that behind. Five or ten years later if any of my projects start gushing oil, I have no claim on their success.

3. I also work for my self because it gives me more flexibility in defending and sticking with my personal and professional values. In making a difference when and where I want to make it. Its not that I don’t make comprises at work as an employer. I do but I make them at my terms and I make them by choice. As the architect said in the Matrix, the core element is choice – absent choice we are all inherently unstable. Introduce choice and you introduce stability.

4. Have you ever thought about what is life like after you turn fifty? Get laid off in and around that age and then try finding a job that fits in with your personal and professional goals. Doesn’t matter how politically correct we get as a race, nation, continent or planet, age discrimination is here to stay. At that age the problem is no longer if you can work or deliver, it is more who you will take you in. I know of exceptions who have started off their own ventures post their golden handshakes and done well. But as a rule, the fifth decade of our life is going to be short on energy, optimism, tolerance and the ability to survive a big hit. For most of us it represents the final stretch in our professional lives with retirement waiting at the end. If it is an end that we don’t look forward to, that is just too bad. There are no extensions; there are no victory laps. Once you have been put out to pasture it will only be a short while before the butchers in animal farm will come for you.

If these are the reasons to jump in, I also know there is a hefty price that I will pay as an entrepreneur.

1. Liking control means that the buck will stop at my desk. There is no denying that. The buck stopping at my desk is not limited to taking responsibility for timelines, quality or delivery. It also includes bills, payroll and liabilities. If I can’t accept that I shouldn’t be an entrepreneur. When push comes to shove, it is my show and there will be times where I will end up putting everything I have and more on the line to make ends meet.

2. There is no certain guaranteed paycheck or payback. Either I have the financial support or flexibility to take that risk that I will not be paid for months or I don’t. If I do, then I need to accept and live with the fact that I will not be paid. Accep the fact that there will be days where I have no money in my wallet, no space on my cards and no cash in my account and will have creditors knocking on the door. And yes that scares me. Its not that as an entrepreneur, I am immune to fear. I get stressed and tensed also but I need to have faith in my ability to earn my living and live through crisis. I have said earlier that entrepreneurs as a group end up being more religious than their less enterprising counterparts. Without religion and placing your faith in a higher deity, it an even more lonelier and stressful ride.

3. How do I cover myself? By making sure that my personal, professional and business expenses are down to an absolute minimum and I only spend what I can really spare. We have an old joke at our firm that the first two years are difficult and then – and then you get used to it.

4. It will take a lot of hard work and then some. I will not get it right the first time and I may not get it right at all. There will be times where I will be at the brink of failure and hard work and faith will see me through and there will be times when they wont.

This is just a glimpse of my mindset on any given day. These are my expectations and I need to ensure that not just me but every one else that I work with is clear on the consequences and implications of believing in the eight points mentioned above.