Don’t Stand On the Edge — Jump In!
For some people the forces of the Earth tell you its time to be an entrepreneur. Maybe a hobby of yours has caught on with the public, maybe you were noticed for a particular gift, or maybe its time for you to take the family business in your own direction. For most people it is not that simple. Upon college graduation there is a certain expectation to find that first position, the launching pad; a situation where you can compare your salary and bonus with your friends and rest easy that you have health insurance, paid sick days, and other benefits. Some people thrive on that.
However, there are others that cannot accept the thought of defining themselves by their bonus or doing a job just to get it done. The idea of being satisfied with getting out of work at 5 so you can start your life is unacceptable to some people. Those people are entrepreneurs. They are the people who want to be defined by their work and wake up as though each day was an opportunity to offer something fresh to the world. However, being an entrepreneur doesn’t always mean you have to be on your own.
The problem is that it is very hard to find the intersection of these two contrasting ideals. It is important to walk the accepted path for some time and gain an understanding of the opportunities out there. On the other hand, that can be very confining and restricting. If the goal is to be an entrepreneur it can be very hard to sit behind a desk working on someone else’s dream, or worse, just making ends meet.
At what point do you say it is time for me to fulfill my own dreams? That’s a very hard question to answer. Mark Burnett’s book Jump In does a good job of encouraging the reader to do just that, but at the end of the day it is up to you. For some reason many people do not do what brings them joy, even if it isn’t illegal or harmful to others. All those pressures from yourself, your peers, your parents, and everywhere else to earn a living or show some visible progress can be very damaging to the entrepreneurial spirit, or even to ones happiness. So when should you say its time to jump in?
Arlen Marmel is founder of Teez Whiz
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