Is there a perfect moment to become entrepreneur?
I bet there are enough examples out there to prove that there isn’t a special period in life to become entrepreneur. However after analyzing the life of my relatives and myself I came to the conclusion that there might be some real life implications when deciding to take your life in your hands and become a self sustained entity. As I wrote in one of my previous posts, there are huge implications to consider when becoming an entrepreneurship in terms of time resources, social life and the self esteem. In that case what would be a good moment to become entrepreneur? I would say late 20’s. Lets put it this way:
Entrepreneurship until you are 20 years old
The globalization and availability of modern communications methods made entrepreneurship possible for teens. Lets just think to the new bread of webmasters and web hosts that are run by teens. You might not realize but the server you are using for your business might be managed by a 13 years child. There is nothing wrong with that as long as the service is ok, and the child is happy. But can we name him an entrepreneur? My guess is no. My advice for the teens working out there and taking the entrepreneurship path is to try to get most of their childhood as they will never get back these years. Further more think about how would they react facing a real world problem. Isn’t that scary?
Entrepreneurship between 30 and 50 years
You might say that this is the best moment to take your life in your hands. It might be. You are experienced enough, you have probably saved some money to ensure the early entrepreneurship funding and you know people who might bring you some nice business. You have ideas. You saw things been done before, you probably know some folks who made it and they have a happy life now. You have the knowledge and the skills to make your dreams come true. Is this the best moment to be entrepreneur? In my opinion no. Don’t you have any kids to raise? But yes, it’s not to late, its just in time.
Entrepreneurship after 50 years
I saw this done and even in a very successful way. But how many of your parents (supposing you are my age) are ready to leave their normal life and get to entrepreneurship?
OK, maybe you noticed that I’ve “missed” the middle 20’s. Because this is the best time to get it done in my opinion. Why?
- You probably have already worked in a corporative environment and you have accumulated enough business knowledge
- You are still young enough to lose some nights and accumulate stress
- You can probably still rely on the support of your parents or your family if things get nasty
- You have enough energy to get it done over and over again if it fails in the beginning
- You don’t know “everything”. Not knowing everything might be a good thing some times as it will get you creating things
- It’s the best moment to make mistakes and learn from them. Imagine yourself in the middle 50’s – do you think the market and clients would allow the same mistakes?
What’s my advice? Become an entrepreneur if this is what you think you should be and you have what it takes. For sure your path will be full of hard working hours, impossible to manage situations and success. Its never to late or to soon to give an entire new meaning to your life by become an entrepreneur, but if you are in the middle 20’s what are you waiting for?
Make something for yourself
Consider entrepreneurship as the only way to discover your full potential, make something for yourself and have something to leave after you pass away. Its not easy, but have you thought on what you could develop? Did you have any dreams lately? Why not to give them a try?
Get it done – there are no limits out there
Being an entrepreneur is probably one of the things that have no limits. You could be anything you want in the way you want. You could be the next Bill Gates. Or maybe you just want unlimited beer in your fridge? It’s after you to set your limits.
Are you under 20’s? Think about what could you become until the 30’s. Ask your parents for guidance and help. They are the best business consultants you might have. And they are cheap to use and came in a pair of 2 
Are you in the middle 20’s? Don’t leave your chances for later.
Maybe you are in the middle 30’s or 40’s. No problem, consult your family and ask for their support and thrust. It would help you a lot getting things done in the way you know best.
After 50’s? You have the best experience in town. Why not to “sell” it and assure your happily retirement?
Have enough faith in yourself. This is all you need to become an entrepreneur. And don’t forget about luck.
Yours faithfully,
cdorob (aka Cristian Dorobantescu)
PS: Please note that this post refers to the moment I think is best to get it started. However being an entrepreneur is probably the best thing you could ever have at any age if you are doing it well enough.
Great Topic. We believe that if kids are introduced early on to business concepts and entrepreneurship, they will make great employers or employees. I want to share with you this article written by National Award Winning Author Jennifer Bouani.
Kids yearn to know their place in the world and how THEY can make a difference
The Way We Were…
We adults grew up in a world where we actually referenced a big thick phone book to find someone’s address or flipped through the newspaper to find when a movie starts.
New Breed of Info Seekers
Today’s kids are a whole new breed of information seekers. They have the world available to them through a keyword search engine. And today’s kids can send pictures back and forth to a kid halfway across the world through a phone in an instant. It’s a smaller world, after all. And as a result of this, today’s kids want more from their books than Judy Blume, Nancy Drew and Star Wars gave us. They are yearning to know their place in their world and how THEY can make a difference in it.
Others Agree
Back in May, I attended a BookExpo (Washington DC) breakout session called Trends Impacting the Future of Children’s Publishing moderated by Dr. Mary Manz Simon, children’s market trend tracker with the following panelists:
·Kate Klimo, VP Random House/Golden Books
·Valerie Garfield, VP, Assc Publisher, Simon Spotlight and Little Simon, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Div
·Craig Walker, VP Editorial and Media, Trade Paperbacks, Scholastic
·Bruce Nuffer, President, Zonderkidz
The panel discussed the differences in this generation of kids and how publishing is changing because kids today are yearning to find their place in the world.
More Than Lemonade Stands
Recenting, I met with a few 3rd-5th grade kids. They and their parents had gathered to meet me in a “meet the author†event. We chatted in a conference table in a room with a white board. I asked them, “Now that you have read the book, do you want to own your own business one day?†They said they did. “What sort of business would you like to have?†I asked.
The first boy said he wanted to own a motorcycle store. So, I drew his motorcycle shop up on the white board with motorcycles and stick people customers. Another kid wanted to own his own outdoor/hunting store. So, I drew that up on the board, across the street from the motorcycle shop. The third kid wanted to own a hardward/software store. “Well, that’s perfect! Because the motorcycle store and the outdoor/hunting store will need hardware and software to run their store,†I said, explaining the relationship between customers and vendors. And so it went.
The kids were so engaged in the moment. They could envision their place in the world, and they could do it with their peers. They had a dream to work towards.
At the end, a mother asked the kids, “Ok, what words did you learn today?†The first kid shouted, “Entrepreneur!†and the next said, “Brainstorming!†As I watched big grins take over the kids faces and the eyes of the parents sparkle, I felt an enormous amount of energy in the room, and I thought back to the long nights and weekends I had spent alone typing at my computer, writing Tyler and His Solve-a-matic MachineThe hairs raised on my arms at this moment when I realized we really do have the power to make a difference in kids’ lives and the future of America.
Check it out: Ramit Sethi blogs about an experience he had when he visited a group of kids to teach them about entrepreneurship.
http://www/boujepublishing.com
Nice post. I agree that your 20’s is the best time even though anytime is life is a great time to start something new. Especially if you hate whatever else you are doing. Your 20’s does give you the most room to mess up, which probably will happen a few times.
In the end though if you hate what your doing, do something about it! No matter what your age is. If you want it bad enough it will work.
Cristian–I once had a very successful middle aged executive tell me “being an entrepreneur right out of college is like being a professional athlete.” He was discouraging me from becoming one, wanted me to get a safe, secure job with good benefits, blah blah blah. At first I was a little upset with him, then I took it as a compliment and as a challenge, now that I’ve gotten past that, I just use it as motivation–”yeah it’s like being a professional athlete” and i’m doing it.
I think the perfect moment to become an entrepreneur is whenever you get passionate about something to stop at nothing!
Matt, my own personal experience is that it gets harder to start a company when years pass. If when I’ve started my company 4 years ago I felt I have nothing to lose, now, being more knowledgeable and with more responsibilities it fells like something I’ll have to think twice.
Other than that, I just feel the need to copy paste this from your blog: “WARNING: Entrepreneurship and Lifestyle Experiments can dramatically alter your life!”
Jared, beside what you’re saying “Your 20’s does give you the most room to mess up, which probably will happen a few times.”, if you’re 20’s and your colleagues are the same, it’s easier to get their commitment to push forward. For example, if you have cashflow problems it’s easier to ask your 20 something colleagues to work for 3 months for less money that your 35 years colleagues with family and other expenses. And It’s not only about expenses, it’s also about accepting things easier.
Great article. I enjoy hearing about entrepreneurs who triumph potentially devastating situations and rise from it with a leaner, more efficient business and go on to achieve everything they desire.