Let's be honest: an entrepreneur is often associated with a smartly dressed person who is always talking on the latest model phone, adjusting an expensive watch on his wrist, and then getting into a premium car to get to his plane and go to work somewhere on the islands. Because he can.
This image is further cultivated by photos from Instagram, all kinds of interviews with already rich and famous entrepreneurs.
The truth looks very different. Entrepreneurship is the hardest path you can take. This opinion is shared by Jon Westenberg, an entrepreneur, writer and columnist for well-known publications.
If you're starting a startup because you want work/life balance, freedom and time off, I've got bad news for you. You won't succeed.
John Westenberg, entrepreneur
Why won't it work? Let's figure it out.
Let's count the money
If you are an employee, you get a fixed salary. Thanks to this, you can sit down at the beginning of the month, make a cup of coffee and plan your spending 30 days in advance. You are cheerful, cheerful and have a good idea where you will spend your salary this week and next too.
The equation is simple: you work X hours a week, you get paid Y for it.
This equation does not work when you are an entrepreneur. It turns into a multi-level monster and makes your brain literally explode.
You need to understand how much money you have, what deals you can close, what is your cash flow, is there a gap… Moreover, you need to figure out how much you can set aside as your own. wages not to go bankrupt next month. You will be forced to settle for small amounts for a long time. It is very difficult.
On the other hand, if you learn to think a few steps ahead, sooner or later your business will earn more, and you will learn how to make the right decisions regarding finances.
You will have to find a balance point. Either you sacrifice your life to save money and invest in a business, or you leave everything as it is and hope that everything will work out somehow.
The second option is the easiest. He will destroy you. You have to choose the first one.
I agree, it all sounds rather sad. That's why to be employee much easier than starting your own business. Deprivation and self-restraint are difficult, and not everyone is able to cope with them.
How is it with time?
Most entrepreneurs sincerely believe that own business- this is good way control time and separate work from personal life. Unfortunately, this is complete nonsense.
For most of those who have started, time is the main and main resource. And even here, the entrepreneur has to deal with certain risks. After all, time may be short, and tomorrow it will disappear altogether. But anyway, that's all you have.
For the first few years, you will spend almost all of your time on new business. Time, in fact, will be the only resource that you completely control and feel. No matter how much money you have, time will make you worry and nervous: are you devoting too few hours to your business?
And when to live?
My boss is an idiot
So many say and plunge headlong into their own business. Unfortunately, the reality is that it is much easier to work under another person than to be your own boss. Even if the boss is bad.
There are two types of leaders:
- The boss is a bastard. You know those. They keep a close eye on you so that you are not a minute late, they can put a stack of cases on the table five minutes before the end of the working day. They do not remember when your birthday is, and they hardly give out.
- The boss is a jerk. There are those too. They don't care what time you crossed the threshold of the office, they do not give feedback on your work. Sometimes it seems to you that such a boss is not at all interested in what you do in the office. And therefore you feel unnecessary, and you consider your work meaningless.
The truth is that if you are an entrepreneur, sooner or later you will become one of these bosses. You will either give yourself complete freedom of action, or go crazy trying to control every minute.
Your employees will not understand you. After all, this is your business, your brainchild, your future. It is not surprising that the maximum pressure will focus on you, and the sound of a ticking clock will wake you up in the middle of the night. In fact, you will be the only person on the team who laid down his life to achieve the goal.
This is a very unhealthy situation. But it cannot be otherwise.
And good news
If you have read all the dark stories and have reached this line - we congratulate you. Because there is good news too.
All the horrors described above really exist and await everyone who starts their own business. But it's worth it. In return, you get the opportunity to create something incredible, unique and original.
You will have the opportunity to change and take responsibility for your future. When you do something for yourself, you get great satisfaction.
And maybe - maybe! - someday you will be able to go so far that you really will conduct your business somewhere on the coast, sitting on a comfortable sunbed and sipping a cocktail. But the way to this beach chair is very long and difficult. He's not for everyone. But it's worth it.
“Chelyabinsk men prefer to earn a living not physical labor, but by the ability to sell goods or services, ”state numerous media outlets following the HeadHunter research service. An analysis of resumes shows that every fourth person is ready to work in sales. Nine percent prefer the field of computer technology, six percent of applicants are looking for vacancies for top managers. We have the same number of builders as potential "tops", transport workers - a percentage less. Only 13 percent of Chelyabinsk males see themselves in production.
Employers and officials procrastinate this sad statistic from year to year, arguing that universities do not want to grow engineering and technical resources for the real sector, and young people do not want to go into this very real sector as workers. At least you zaproforiruyte them, at least you glorify the man of labor every hour through all channels. From the point of view of employers, officials and personnel specialists, this is completely inexplicable. Because no one really needs economists, lawyers, political scientists, and the rest of the list, not to mention the fact that today there are a bunch of them on every corner. And because a skilled worker really gets more than an army of small managers, sales consultants and their equivalents.
Paradox? Do not hurry…
Let's rewind the time 20-25 years ago, when a working man was praised so that he himself made up jokes about this. Salaries in industry were also noticeably higher than those of salesmen and clerks. After the 8th grade, Soviet schoolchildren en masse went to vocational schools, and then to factories: “What the hell did your institute surrender to me, am I going to get more engineer anyway?”
But there was one more ma-a-scarlet such a difference, a nuance. To make it clear, let's remember ... but at least our fellow countryman - Alexander Kosopkin. 1978-1990 - assistant driver, driver of the locomotive depot Zlatoust South Ural Railway. 1990 - Elected People's Deputy of the RSFSR for the Zlatoust Territorial District. 1990-1993 - Chairman of the subcommittee of the Commission on Social Policy of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. Since 1994, he has been working in the presidential administration, up to the head of the main department of internal policy, and since 2004, he has been the plenipotentiary representative of the President in the State Duma. By the way, Alexander Sergeyevich was far from the worst official, just the argali from the Red Book spoiled the final biography for him.
Now let's estimate the probability of repeating a similar career today, albeit not so dizzying - God bless her, with the presidential administration. And the head of the department of the city administration or the deputy of the district council? Or “Vasya, you are a smart guy – will you go to the Polytechnic University for part-time or evening classes? Seven years later, the head of the shop to retire ... "The classic" and then they began to promote you along the trade union line"? It was. If you want, work at the machine until retirement. Ambitions suddenly erupted, and even backed by abilities - the doors to the top are open, even if by no means all of them.
And now even the openings of those doors are bricked up. Now a locksmith (conditionally) is forever. Moreover, by consciously choosing this path, you will program the same fate for your children and grandchildren. Because the locksmith's ability to place a child in good school, to train on the exam for admission to the budget ... well, you understand.
Do you think that applicants rushing to the university "at least as a carcass, at least as a stuffed animal" do not understand this? Or their parents? Yes, a university law degree is a ghostly chance to grow from a Euroset salesman to some head of sales department and above. But at least it's a chance! Those who are not lucky, then for the rest of their lives will drearily stick around behind the counter or in a small office. Others will find the strength in themselves and come to get a job at the plant, with their two higher humanitarian diplomas and lost years.
But today they are sixteen. When did 16-year-olds prefer a bird in the hand to a bird in the sky?
“To earn a living, you have to work. But to get rich, you have to come up with something else.”
Jean Carr, French writer and essayist
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thanks for that
for discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us at Facebook and In contact with
Imagine a situation where literally every sneeze, lunch break and any action at work you need to coordinate through memos. In such a company, getting a vacation is like going through a serious quest. But what if at the end of the day you need to make a minute-by-minute report on what exactly you did today and for how long? The picture is horrifying, but nevertheless, in many companies it is almost the same.
- Forbes calls such companies "slow" and unsuitable for career development, so there is simply no point in remaining among the tornado of approvals and notes - it is worth making an effort to change the situation and at least try to reduce the number of bureaucratic obstacles.
2. Delicate discussion of indelicate issues
If during the discussion financial matters they only tell you that this is wrong, tactless and impolite, then you should already be on your guard. And if they then try to shame them for defending their financial interests, it will be difficult to build a long-term career in this place.
- Discuss your salary with your superiors and ask for an increase for objective reasons - indexation, increase in volume official duties etc. is completely normal.
3. Out of pocket expenses
Market relations suggest that work is where you earn money, not spend it. If at work you constantly have to make, albeit small, but expenses for the needs of the company that are not reimbursed by management, then this is a bad job.
- Whether it's essential stationery or printer paper, business coach and career consultant Rachel Ritlop advises against putting up with these out-of-pocket situations for company needs and turning them down.
4. Guilty without guilt
You come to work in the morning, open the mail and see an angry letter that on Friday it was necessary to calculate the cost, relatively speaking, of the rover. But there was no task on the rover either on Friday or at all. Such situations already give reason to think about the adequacy of leadership.
- If your boss starts blaming you for not completing a task that you haven’t been assigned yet, or even gives you strange and incomprehensible tasks, then it’s time to have a serious talk with the management.
5. Working with ghosts
Ghosting is a relatively new term that is commonly used to refer to the silent withdrawal of a partner from a relationship. The psychological harm of this phenomenon in relationships is already being studied, but at work, a colleague or boss with similar behavior of a ghost person causes considerable damage.
- If your requests are constantly ignored, and direct questions are not answered, it is worth calling the management for a serious conversation.
6. They have been waiting for the promised for three years
Eternal promises “already about” to be promoted, raise salaries, improve workplace, send to training or any other "breakfast", the execution of which is constantly delayed ... All these promises do not create good conditions for successful work. Career coach Roy Cohen says that such leaders never live up to their obligations, which means that you will not see a well-deserved reward.
- It is possible and necessary to make additional efforts if the promise of the authorities is specific and tied to the exact date. For example, a 110% increase in salary when a target is met, or a bonus for an additional project on the 31st.
7. Not in service, but in friendship
Sometimes, under the guise of friendship at work, free exploitation of labor flourishes. When the boss is practically the best friend or girlfriend and just a wonderful person, it’s hard to refuse a small request: finish a task, stay an hour, etc. Gradually, everything enters into the system - and now you are working overtime for free.
- Friendships at work are great, but if they change the workflow, then it's worth considering if it's a friendship.
8. It's not customary for us
The utterance of this phrase alone already makes you wary. It is rare that it is not customary to overwork or come to work early. Usually, this wording hides the unspoken rules of the company: do not argue with the boss, do not have an opinion, do not take vacation or sick leave for more than a certain number of days in a row.
- If the team has a set of unspoken laws that contradict Labor Code or common sense, then you should seriously consider whether you need such a team.
9. Emotional blackmail
Too friendly relations with the manager or colleagues can lead to the appearance of phrases like “You are leaving us”, “This is a knife in the back”, “Yes, how can you”. Such methods of emotional pressure force us to abandon our plans, goals, or even principles. They appear just when you defend your opinion or decision.
- Forbes experts say that employees who are willing to give up their values are less successful than those who can be called a whole person. Therefore, remaining in an environment where you cannot be yourself is unfavorable for you personally and for your career.
10. We are now in a difficult period
Constant references to a difficult period, temporary difficulties and requests to get into position show an already formed system, where in the end you will endure forever. Temporarily added responsibilities will become permanent, salary increases are not expected, and change will always be on the horizon.
Wrote a comment November 2, 2011, 09:27 "No. A worker in Russia means swearing, booze, low wages" >>>
The employer is "a mate, a booze" and almost unlimited power over the worker "out of lawlessness."
The worker is the slave. "Low wages" - his destiny.
And low salaries mean the inability to multiply, incl. So soon the last Workers will die out, and the authorities will have nothing left to do but slyly justify and legitimize the transition to the feudal-slave system.
Although, in a sense, I agree with "Zinaida Rogova" (comment a little higher). They did a renovation in the bathroom here, so it cost a lot of money, i.e. the worker managed to earn good money on me, and provided that such work is permanent for him, he would live like cheese in butter, but this is not so. with work sometimes dense, sometimes empty. Plumbers, for example, in ZhEKs also feed their legs, and not the employer. So the employer still manages to get into a share with such an enterprising plumber. As for hard workers at construction sites and factories, everything again depends on the employer. And now the employer has gone, in a jamb, illiterate and incomprehensible, but this again rests on state policy.
0 0 0
Karmic Kapets replied to redhead whore November 7, 2011, 13:22 "I work at a construction site. As a bricklayer. I don't complain about the salary. I have more than office workers, with the exception of tops." >>> Yeah, yeah, and I have access to information about the costs (all sorts, and h. and b.) Organizations that these construction sites are. Of course, you don’t have to complain about the salary (if the employer pays you), but I’ll never believe that your salary would be more than the salary of the VET worker in your office (engineer, estimator, surveyor, etc.). I will willingly believe that the income of the head of the mechanization section, the foreman or the chief engineer of the construction site (if he manages all sorts of foremen), for example (if you count along with the stolen and leftist) can be more than that of the tops, as you say, but this is solely due to resource stolen from tops (material and time) and only from bad tops. And a stonemason, if he is a hired worker, is dust from under the foreman's feet, and the foreman will pay him as much as he wants, and COMPLAINT TO SOMEONE, he doesn't like it: "free will - freedom." And if you are a top-class stonemason and work exclusively for yourself without being hired in any office (like a state of emergency, for example) without paying all the taxes that you owe, then ... I will readily believe.
0 0 0
whore redhead replied to Karmic Kapets November 7, 2011, 18:48 Here is the layout from our office.
the foreman, as soon as he gets a job, receives a salary of 15,000 rubles. He is not entitled to bonuses, although if the object is delivered ahead of schedule (which is rare), the director can pay him another salary from the master's shoulder. If the foreman will be given a higher category. then his salary becomes 25,000 rubles. The situation is the same with rewards.
A surveyor, PTO engineers, an estimator, an accountant, a secretary, and even a chief executive officer and a chief executive officer - when hired, they sit down for 15,000 rubles and within the limits of their position, their salary does not rise above 25,000 rubles. Either aunts who have someone to earn money work in such places, or yesterday's students. If these employees do not work, the director cuts their salaries. So, recently, the GAP and the GIP received 10,000 instead of 15,000 each, because the ox fell and did not prepare documentation for us, the masons.
From 30,000 to 50,000 the head of the section receives, this is comparable to us.
The salaries of the chief engineer, mechanic, and general director are not announced, but since I know the first one personally, I will say that he went crazy from the increase in salary many times after working as a surveyor.
0 0 0
whore redhead replied to Karmic Kapets November 7, 2011, 18:58 Further. At the expense of theft of materials, everyone who is not too lazy to do this earns from us. So, the foreman has the opportunity to drink away a 10% supply of materials, if he calculates everything correctly and does not get caught. In the last two years, the director, however, covered this shop and imports materials without a supply, for work. Crane with installers sell fragments of piles, carpenters - the remnants of lumber, well, and draining diesel fuel or gasoline from drivers is taken for granted.
about our salary. How much we earn, we know ourselves. We ourselves count the cubes, decide for ourselves how much to put aside in reserve (for example, for the winter, when the working will fall due to the weather, or for an additional name to the plasterers, if the walls are crooked), the foreman only closes our time sheet. The price per cube is from 1200 to 1700 rubles. A team (10-20 people, they are different) feeds one sling.
About dust. Ordinary employees call the foreman "you", as well as the head of the site.
Premium workers are guaranteed. in case of production in excess of 120%, the price increases by 20%. If the foreman goes on a spree or starts to get impudent, then all questions about him are resolved through his head, and in which case he will also receive stars.
Any questions?
0 0 0
How to attract young people to factories. The classic is getting old. Remember from Vladimir Mayakovsky: “I would go to the workers, let them teach me!” They do not want to go to the workers in our time. Why? Let's try to figure it out.
Workers Wanted
- We have four thousand vacancies, of which 80% are working specialties, - says the head of the Center for Employment of the City of Smolensk Elena Avdashchenkova. – Turners, millers, mechanics of mechanical assembly works, toolmakers, gas welders, concrete workers, fitters, roofers are required. A complete imbalance between the proposed vacancies and the category of Smolensk residents who are registered with us. On the one hand - unemployment, on the other - a lot of work. But few people want to go to the workers, despite the fact that they offer apprenticeships, good salaries. With difficulty, we select applicants for vacant jobs in our enterprises - an auto-aggregate plant, a radio components plant. On August 7, we are holding a mini-fair of job vacancies especially for the Smolensk Aviation Plant.
housing solves the problem
“Today this is one of the most difficult issues - the lack of workers in enterprises,” says Executive Director Smolensk Regional Association of Employers "Scientific and Industrial Union" Anatoly Popov. Anatoly Ivanovich names several reasons why young people do not want to work as turners, millers, locksmiths, etc. Career guidance is poorly conducted, but it is necessary to start at school. Parents want to see their children as office workers. Many do not even realize that the factories have new equipment, modern machines- to manage them, it takes not so much physical strength as good brains. But out of habit, parents set up children, they say, if you don’t study, you will go to work at a factory. A negative attitude towards production is gradually being brought up. The status of working professions is low. “Before, workers had moral, material preferences,” says Popov. And the prestige of working professions was high.”
“We have 34 universities,” Anatoly Ivanovich continues, “today everyone wants to have a higher education. Lawyers and economists have nowhere to go, they work as sellers with diplomas of higher education. In the region, they do not train toolmakers, fitters, plumbers at all. In order to become workers, it is necessary to build an industrial policy, which does not exist in the region. It is necessary to raise the prestige of working professions. Not in words. At bilateral commissions, I suggested building a camp for young workers. Next to housing there should be cultural, sports facilities for leisure. This can be done through public-private partnerships, with budget and business money. This already exists in Kaluga, the problem with jobs at enterprises is being solved. Necessary equity participation build hostels. The employer must provide housing or at least partially repay the mortgage loan. Without serious financial incentives, the problem cannot be solved.”
Where are they taught jobs?
Deputy Head of the Department for Education, Science and Youth Policy#8194;– Head of the Department vocational education and Science Yuri Glebov said that 11 vocational technical schools, 38 colleges and technical schools of the region are training in working specialties. Educational institutions organize their work, focusing on needs industrial enterprises. For example, the Smolensk Machine-Building College cooperates closely with Analitpribor, the Construction College - with various construction organizations etc. We managed to defend the program for the development of vocational education, now our region receives funding from the federal budget. Last year, 14 million rubles were allocated, this year almost 2.2 times more. “Thanks to the influx of funds, # 8194; - says Yuri Alexandrovich, - a resource and industry center for the training of welding specialists has been created. The task is to prepare a welder who will own modern equipment. A year ago, a resource center was set up at the Smolensk Machine-Building College to train general machine operators. For this, special equipment will be purchased. A lot is being done to train working specialties on a modern basis.”
Glebov agrees that the prestige of working professions has fallen, the profession of a manager, designer, etc. is in vogue. industrial production, stop, and even the liquidation of many enterprises in the 90s led to a drop in industrial production. Young quickly reoriented, found another job. Now enterprises are asking: give turners, millers! But at the same time, they guarantee a salary of only 8-10 thousand rubles. The young guy will become a security guard and earn more without doing anything.
Prestige
“It has become unprestigious to work as a turner, locksmith, miller,” says CEO LLC "Smolensk Electrotechnical Plant" Sergey Goltsov. - There has been a distortion in education: now we have an overabundance of lawyers, economists. A cult reigns among the youth higher education. And who will work in the factories? It is necessary to talk about working people, and not broadcast on TV from morning to evening about show business. At least 30 enterprises of the Smolensk region need fitters, turners, and millers. We have specialists who are over 65, and we ask them to work more, because there is no one to replace them. The salaries of toolmakers reach up to 25 thousand rubles, and we are ready to teach this profession right at the factory. We need to tell the youth that the modern worker is not a man with a sledgehammer, he works on CNC machines. Raising the technical potential without highly skilled workers is impossible.
“Young people dream of big earnings,” Oleg Mironov, head of the marketing department of CJSC IFC Region, expresses his opinion. - And it’s even better that they pay a lot and you don’t have to do anything, just sort through the papers. We missed somewhere the main thing: production is supported by the working class. A state industrial policy is needed. Young people want to acquire housing, people in important working professions need to allocate money for apartments on preferential terms, build dormitories on shares, pay more - then they will go to factories, to work.
