Many yars ago, when I was contemplating STARTING MY FIRST BIZ....a Burglar & Fire Alarm biz...after getting a degree in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern Univ and spending 2 yrs with General Electric Corp in their Industrial Sales Div...ALL my relatives...I'm talkin' uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, brothers...even neighbors and friends..."CAUTIONED" or "WARNED" me about leaving my "cushy security" at GE.
Well...they did not see what I "saw";
In my office at GE, over a 8 month period, I saw "FOUR 50 yr old men led out to pasture"!
By that I mean...the company "laid them off"...which, in those days was the "code phrase" for..."Get rid of these guys before their TENURE and RETIREMENT perks kick in!"
So...they bounced these guys out BEFORE they could get the benefits of their 28 or 29 years of "service", and replaced them with people at a third of what they were being paid. ( I was one of those)
Thus...seeing the handwriting on the wall...I decided then and there..."I" was going to kiss of this "employee thing" and look for some business I could start, with little investment...AND, that I would also enjoy.
Well...it took almost a year. Then, one day I saw an ad in the WallStreet Journal for a "new kind of Home Burglar Alarm System".
After getting the materials and talking with the company reps...I was SOLD! I WAS GOING TO START MY OWN BURGLAR & FIRE ALARM BUSINESS!
I didn't know how but...I was bound and determined to give it a TRY! I did NOT want to work for an outfit where, after being a loyal worker-bee for 30 yrs...they let you go short of securing your "tenure".
(In other words, "Screwing the people who were LOYAL to you for years)
So...to get some "feed-back" on my decision...(actually, I was looking for some sort of assurance that I had, indeed, made the RIGHT decision to quit GE and start my own biz)...I told my folks, other relatives and friends, of my intentions.
MAN O MAN! Did I get hit up one side o my head and down the other! Ya woulda thought I was planning on committing a crime...the way they reacted.
However...when I was a freshman at NU I remember a guy who gave a seminar on "positive thinking" (They actually had those in THOSE DAYS. Not any more! "Individualism is out, in acadamia, these days! Marxist Socialism is IN!" [That's another story])
This guy said something I will ALWAYS REMEMBER;
"GO WHERE YOUR HEART TELLS YOU TO GO!"
My "heart" was telling me to get the heck out of GE and start this burglar alarm biz!
Thank you sir...whoever you were!
So...with EVERYONE against me...I proceeded to set up my new biz;
I opened a bank account with my new business name. (Put in $100)
Ordered some letterheads and business cards...ordered a demo from the company in Florida ($500)...which included some brochures and "suggestions" on how to sell the thing...and proceeded to get the thing going, in the evening...while still holding down my "day job" at GE.
Well...I got everything set up and started to try and sell alarm systems to homeowners in the NorthShore of Chicago.
I got some appointments...went out to give a demo and an estimate and...NO sales. Then...10 evenings later BANG...a dentist says, "Go!" for a $2600 sale.
Then, as my installer and I are installer the system the next Saturday (NO insurance, No permits, No Business License, NO nothin but me...buck naked, hanging everything out against the wind)...a friend comes over and says to me, "Would you come over and give ME and estimate?"
Are YOU kiddin? I was over there like "Jack-Flash"! And I wrote up another order. Same thing happened the next day...another order from a neighbor.
SO0000....guess what I did on Monday morn? Yup! I marched into my bosse's office and gave my 2-week notice!
HE tried to dissuade me...my fellow woikers tried to dissuade me...EVERYONE I KNEW...tried to dissuade me.
Some even cautioned me (like Mike here)
However...I CONSIDERED THE SOURCE of all this negativity (most out of concern for MY well being, which I appreciated) NONE of these "advisors" had ever started their own business! ALL of these "advisors" were having THEIR PAYCHECKS SIGNED BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES!
So...my POINT here is;
Granted...there are all kinds of "dangers" out "there"! It's "MORE SECURE" to be working for someone else...UNTIL...you become "expendable"! Then, you become a "number"!
Me...I chose years ago that "I" would be NUMERO UNO! And worry about MY safety and security...MYSELF!
MANY TIMES...I started businesses without an inkling about "insurance" or "wondering whether the City or someone was going to come down on me for whatever"!
MANY TIMES...I just "went out and started"!
THEN...after I proved to myself that this was something;
1) I liked
2) Something I enjoyed doing
THEN...I looked into "protecting myself from all the gremlins out there".
And...as "luck" would have it...MOST of these ventures mad GOOD MONEY...and kept me from having to rely upon someone else to sign MY paycheck!
So...thanks for the "caution" Mike....but "US entroopeneers" will do things "our way" because if we even PAUSE to listen to folks like you...our SPIRIT will be diffused and we will go back to NOT taking "chances" and looking for the "secure" way!
HORSEHOCKEY!
After 35 years of "DOING IT MY WAY"...I WILL STILL DO IT "MY WAY"...DAMN THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD!
"Security is within Yourself"!
Go ahead! Take chances! Start businesses like this Deck Renewal thing! Then...after you prove to yourself and all the naysayers around you that YOU can do it...THEN...hire someoen to look into "protecting you from the big bad boogy men!
But...do NOT let all the "rules and regulations and other crapola diffuse your SPIRIT!