Question: Does security equal a steady paycheck?
Today, I want to address the psychological need for a steady paycheck vs. living in fear with the uncertainty of when and where the next paycheck will come from. Many people will not consider self-employment because they live in fear of not having access to a steady paycheck. This is understandable. The prospect of living on a park bench can be daunting.
One of the biggest myths about self-employment is that entrepreneurs are huge risk takers. Most successful entrepreneurs never risk more than they are willing to lose. In other words, we know when to walk away from the Blackjack table. We are prudent with our money and are risk adverse. We keep enough money in our savings account to live on for at least a year, in case our financial projections are off. If things do not work out, we always have a fallback position.
One of the biggest myths is that entrepreneurs are huge risk takers.
Successful entrepreneurs develop a solid plan of attack (often referred to as a business plan). We keep our overhead low and grow slowly. We are not just trying out self-employment to see if it works. We have made a commitment to a self-employed lifestyle.
Most entrepreneurs are of the mindset that the security of a paycheck or security in life, is an illusion. You can do things to put yourself in a more secure position but none of us knows exactly what tomorrow will bring.
Bottom line: I have interviewed thousands of small business owners. We universally believe that owning your business provides more security than working for someone else.
If you want to find out about other personality traits that will measure your potential success in self-employment, take the 5- minute self-employment quiz. The higher you score, the higher your prospects for success. Or buy my book "Is Self-Employment For You? 10 Years Later" today.