Entrepreneurship! In or Out?
Some people believe that they have entrepreneurship coursing through their veins and there are some that believe that you either have it in you or you don’t. Being an entrepreneur can stem from a number of reasons, from wanting to be your own boss, to being made redundant, to the lack of career progression within your current company.
Whatever the reason may be, the truth is anyone can be an entrepreneur. All you need is an idea, some skills, financial backup and the Will to let go of your regular employment, if you are in such. Hell, you don’t even have to quit your full time job to be an entrepreneur; you can start by being one part time. As long as it doesn’t affect your performance during your employed day, your employer doesn’t need to, or have the right to know what you do with your personal time after hours. Or do they? All depends on the type of employment contract you have with your employer.
If the company doesn’t want you to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams part time, then you know it’s time for you to make your decision. As long as you believe that there is a market for your prospective product or service, that you have done your research and homework thoroughly and you feel its time. Roughly 20% of most new businesses survive the first year. It also depends on country, region and a host of other factors. Doing your homework doesn’t necessarily mean you will succeed.
That said…..
In some cases companies promote entrepreneurship within their corporate environment and will even finance a great idea, to boot. Why do they do it? In my opinion its two fold. Firstly it makes for creative and high performing employees providing out of the box solutions and secondly it provides the business with a secondary revenue stream, should the creative ideas take off into mainstream.
SAP AG is just one of those companies helping Start-ups to garner a foothold in technology.
Through the SAP Startup Focus Program, SAP recently hosted SAP for Utilities, a 4-day event held in Huntington Beach, CA, uniting over 1,000 utilities professionals from across North America and the globe in all sectors of the industry, to learn about SAP’s innovative solutions. A number of Start-ups stood head and shoulders above the rest and with corporate backing will surely make inroads into the various technologies they are committed to.
Not only do these major corporations support entrepreneurship, but they are also among a new wave of local venture capital funds seeking to back the brightest technology Start-ups, helping fill a funding void that has arguably crippled innovation in Australia and across the Tasman, for far too long.
Arguably funding seems to be reserved for the millennials who have nothing to lose and a hell of a lot to gain. They have out of this world ideas, are energetic, hungry to learn and willing to succeed. That’s just how I see them. So why wouldn’t you want to invest in an entrepreneurial millennial.
Companies are struggling to hold onto their millennial employees and with the ever increasing turnover of staff, finding new approaches to engage these millennial creative minds are getting harder progressively.
Perhaps it’s due to the image portrayed by mainstream media, providing the misconception that the millennials are considered less loyal and less committed to an employer than previous generations. If that is the case, then why should they be loyal and committed when many millennials have seen their grandparents and parents working or having worked long hours for corporations without career progression or reciprocated corporate loyalty.
It’s not a given that a pay cheque infers loyalty. For far too long, corporations have assumed employee loyalty, believing that employees should be grateful to have a job with company. At the end of the day it’s all idiosyncratic. You either go with the flow or you buck the trend and possibly come out smelling like roses. Having a PAYE job doesn’t necessarily spell stable income or continued career progression. Corporations have a bottom line to maintain and shareholders to please, so you gotta look out for number one.
It is said that many millennials are focussed on their career development and learning options within businesses that employ them and only interested in the idea of what their employer or perspective employer can do for them in terms of career progression.
Millennials have an innate hunger for learning and developing options, in order to stay ahead of their competitors. If they can’t get want they want from a corporation, they will go out on their own and try to make it. They have several role models already setting the pace for them.
Having worked with a number or millennials, I have come to believe that their mind-set seems to revolve around how far they can achieve within the given organisation before moving on. Being a generation X, I wholly applaud them.
With the onset of robots, technological advancements and the ever growing need to explore space and Mars, why shouldn’t they think about getting ahead as fast as they can? It is not a question of if the next thing will happen, but how soon.
Turnover forms a significant cost for businesses, with some data suggesting that each departure can cost a business as much as double that person’s annual salary. So a means to prevent millennials from going out on their own or moving on to their next big corporate employment opportunity, is basic negotiating tactics. ‘Help us achieve our business goals and we’ll help you stay at the cutting edge of your chosen profession.
Usually most people stay in a job until they feel the time is ripe to move on. Most of the time money is not the main factor in their decisions which leaves it open for career development, more challenges, more opportunity or bad relationships with the managers.
So what it comes down to for corporations is to invest in quality management programs and more focus on the career development and learning options for not only millennials but the rest of the company makeup.
Once the approach is adjusted staff turnover will slow. There is also the question of diversity or lack thereof, which needs to be addressed by corporations too.
In today’s ever changing economic landscape, this highlights the different personalities, attitudes and lifestyles. Adjusting to this fast changing environment is daunting for any organisation, but they need to throw down the gauntlet and accommodate learning goals which will lead to a more aligned interest of the employee and the business.
But I digress….
It’s a great time to be founding or investing in a Start-up. There is an abundance of fundamental and progressively mind-blowing innovation going on. And the advantage is there for the taking.
So set you mind free and follow your heart……
