What's their motivation?
One question to ask your entrepreneur is, "What's your motivation for starting this company?" Ideally, ask it before they've actually started it.
What you don't want to hear is, "To make us rich- RICH!" Why? Because there are a heck of a lot of easier ways to get rich. And statistically, starting a business isn't one of the best. If what they want is a big pile of money to sit on (or play in, like Scrooge McDuck) during your early retirement, then tell them to stick at their current job, or get a higher paying job, and start saving for that rainy, but loot-filled day.
Hopefully, your entrepreneur wants to start their business because it's something that they're really going to love doing. This is because for a whole lot of the time, entrepreneurship isn't that much fun. So if they're not getting joy out of the basic day-to-day that they'll be going through, then they might get discouraged and give up. If nothing's at stake, then let them go ahead, but if they're quitting their job and mortgaging your house to the hilt to finance their venture, then there needs to be more motivation for them to be doing this than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, otherwise, they'll never get there.
Worse reasons, of course, can be weeded out (to keep up with some kind of friends or family who are starting businesses, to avoid looking for a real job working for someone else, for some kind of prestige they think being a business owner will bring, simply to avoid working for someone else).
Ask the question. Because you might be the only person who can talk sense to them, if they need it.
What you don't want to hear is, "To make us rich- RICH!" Why? Because there are a heck of a lot of easier ways to get rich. And statistically, starting a business isn't one of the best. If what they want is a big pile of money to sit on (or play in, like Scrooge McDuck) during your early retirement, then tell them to stick at their current job, or get a higher paying job, and start saving for that rainy, but loot-filled day.
Hopefully, your entrepreneur wants to start their business because it's something that they're really going to love doing. This is because for a whole lot of the time, entrepreneurship isn't that much fun. So if they're not getting joy out of the basic day-to-day that they'll be going through, then they might get discouraged and give up. If nothing's at stake, then let them go ahead, but if they're quitting their job and mortgaging your house to the hilt to finance their venture, then there needs to be more motivation for them to be doing this than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, otherwise, they'll never get there.
Worse reasons, of course, can be weeded out (to keep up with some kind of friends or family who are starting businesses, to avoid looking for a real job working for someone else, for some kind of prestige they think being a business owner will bring, simply to avoid working for someone else).
Ask the question. Because you might be the only person who can talk sense to them, if they need it.
posted by The Entrepreneur's Wife at
9:20 AM
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