Entrepreneurship: Jumping off a cliff?

I saw this image floating around the internet today and it made me pause. Then I started asking myself if this witty saying is really true? Is entrepreneurship really like jumping off a cliff and building a plane on the way down?

The answer is no. Don’t get me wrong. That may be the way some supposed entrepreneurs operate but the truth is that jumping off a cliff without a safety plan is not entrepreneurship; it is just stupidity.

In today’s media-saturated world where we are always hearing about someone that risks it all and hits it big in business, we can get a warped perspective about what entrepreneurship really is.  Those stories do happen but they don’t happen that often. When you consider how many businesses start and fail every year just in the US, you start to get a sense of how infrequently the rags-to-riches stories occur.

The truth is that successful entrepreneurship does require risk and it requires sacrifice. But it is hardly in the way that this picture portrays it. When I sit back and think about all the successful entrepreneurs I know, I am hard pressed to think of any who really risked every dime to their name and became wealthy overnight. In general, great businesses are built slowly with calculated risks. On the other hand, those that go for broke usually end up broke.

Many people talk to me about entrepreneurship and I always give them the same advice:

* Don’t make quick decisions.
* Don’t jeopardize your family’s security by risking money you really can’t afford to lose.
* Keep another job until you can really afford to move to entrepreneurship full time.
* Risks should always be calculated and minimized as much as possible. Never throw big money at an untested idea until you have some evidence that it will work.
* The best way to get rich quick is to get rich slow.

Those that know me know that I struggle in these areas myself. I am a consummate risk taker. In fact, I am happiest when something is at risk and I become very lethargic if everything is going too smoothly. People like me have to be very careful as entrepreneurs because we are our own worst enemy.

In other words, I am telling you that I know to give you this advice because I have done the opposite myself many times over the years and paid for it dearly.

So go be an entrepreneur. But do it prudently. It doesn’t have to be like this picture suggests. Following the perspective you see in this picture is almost always a loser.