Entrepreneurship not the only path to success
Since young, I always wanted to become an entrepreneur. Maybe it was an influence by my dad who runs his own telecommunications business and very much enjoying it. To a large extend, it could also be influences of success stories in the Dotcom era (or rather since the technology era) - Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Google, Amazon, eBay … The list goes on (not forgetting the Malaysian version - MOL, Catcha.com, Skali.com, Cari.com.my … looks like a long list too!)
I soon enrolled myself to study Computer Science (hoping to programme something great one day). Having influenced by reading the success stories of entrepreneurs, in addition to movies such as “Pirates of Silicon Valley” and cantonese dramas like “Treshold of a New Era”; I soon began my first venture with several friends. It didn’t quite work out and the venture ended not long after.
That failed venture was followed by many other not too successful attempts at multi-level marketing (MLM), other business ventures capitalizing on Malaysian government incubator initiatives as well as portal developments - all of which didn’t work out well for one reason - I wasn’t ready to give up my success in the corporate world or my pursuing of postgraduate education.
Those experiences actually taught me quite some good lessons. For an initiative to be successful, one has got to be ready to sacrifice other matters to focus on it. My final venture was the one closest to success where all team members are enthusiastic and our mentor then (.NET Technopreneurs Development Center) were optimistic about our progress but none of us was ready to loose sight of the shore (our comfortable employment) to explore the ocean (dive into fulltime entrepreneurship). We eventually let go the opportunity. Many of my past venture partners are now fulltime entrepreneurs (some may be struggling but there are definitely those who are doing well), interesting I’m where I am enjoying corporate life instead.
As the years goes us, after several promotions, I find myself enjoying being part of a larger organization and doing what I’m best at - human resources, talent management, succession planning, training and organization development. With that I’ve suddenly found that entrepreneurship wasn’t the “end in mind” I wanted afterall (not being sour grape here). I started analyzing what shaped my thoughts and motivations in the past.
Why was I interested in entrepreneurship?
- There are just too many literature on the successful entrepreneurs, none about successful employees.
- It’s the perception created that successful entrepreneurs are celebrated, while there really isn’t much stories about the failed ones.
- I can’t wait to be doing something significant. Entrepreneurship gives me an opportunity to “call the shots” and make important decisions for the venture from day 1, joining the corporate world upon graduation won’t. But now that I’m managing a larger scope of work and do see results and significance of my contribution to my organization, the motivation of entrepreneurship becomes lesser. Afterall, I’m now seeing myself strategizing for the business too (just not being the CEO of course)!
- Success stories often talks about how much money entrepreneurs make. Being in my teens, there’s often a perception that money means everything. After seeing the “real-world”, I guess I’m now happy with a comfortable life (not that money is no longer important but I don’t really need to become a billionnaire to become happy).
- The pride of being “Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year”. It’s the glamour and glory associated to it, but doesn’t that come in the corporate world too? MIHRM has “HR Practitioner of the Year” and MIM has “Manager of the Year” to recognize corporate figures too.
If we ask any college-going teenagers today, many of them dream to become a billionnaire and more than half believes that entreprenership is the only way to a successful life. Each time I listen to them, it reminds me of the days where I believed the same. But today, I saw something new - “Entrepreneurship is not the only way to success”!
Some facts to consider:
- Being employed doesn’t make you a billionnaire or put you on the world’s top 50 rich list (unless you’re the very sought after CEO for a big firm - Nazir Razak isn’t an entrepreneur). But being employed could still give you a good comfortable life and sufficient income for the family if we put our heart and soul into making it work.
- Of the many success stories of entrepreneurship, there are also many more who failed.
- Even people like Tony Fernandes spend a large part of his career as an employee.
- Being rich doesn’t mean everything. Money will never be enough until you put a stop to looking for more and begin enjoying those that you have. There’s only ONE richest man in the world who can claim to have more than everyone else.
- In order to see yourself doing something significant, you can still be an employee but work as if you’re in a venture and in a business for yourself. With that, you’re bound to put more effort into it and your work will become significant.
So for those of you out there who’s eager to become an entrepreneur, do first ask yourself what are the real motivation for doing so. Analyze the motivation and some of you may realize that it could be achieved as an employee too!
As for myself, entreprenership is taking a backseat (actually, not even taking a seat) for now. I’m focused in making a difference and leaving a footprint in each organization I work in. However, never say never, someday in the future I might be back into the world of entrepreneurship - but with a different kind motivation. Till then, I wish all my friends in entrepreneurship all the best!
Share on Facebook
Comments