Employed Entrepreneurs

Recently I have been approached by a couple of entrepreneurs, independent of each other who have started businesses whilst in the full time employ of a couple of clients.

Yes they wanted mentoring for their own businesses however contact to me was made during employed work hours and on company email. As an ex employer of over 100 employees my immediate thoughts were mixed and included the following:

1. Cheeky, cheeky.
2. Impressive - one was fully established employing four
3. Its my responsibility to bring to the clients attention

I also had a client a little while ago who started their business whilst fully employed and then when it could support both of the owners and their families they resigned one sufficiently before the other so as to avoid a resource hit to their employer. Their business is now flying and they earn three times what they were salaried not to mention 50% of a profitable business. Interestingly they did not branch out because they were unhappy or treated unfairly simply because they saw a niche. Their ex employer became a supplier eventually. Happy days for all parties.

However this is the thing.... owning/running a business no matter how significant or small we rely on our team to provide 100% commitment and focus as much of the time as possible. Im a realist. But if they are embarking on their own venture this can not be the case regardless if they working on their business outside of work hours and via their own email portal or not. Carrying out your job to the best possible effect does not allow bandwith to start a business and start employing. I am all for entrepreneurship of course but respect for your employer must dictate transparentcy and honesty because its tough enough - as they soon find out! This honesty could lead to options and support as well as hopefully, piece of mind for the employed entrepreneur.