The Path of Circumstance: Unlikely Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is our decade’s hot trend. The young Turks who developed today’s social media, and gave rise to the powerhouse that is social media have turned the business world on its heels! Startup possibilities are more tangible than before, and that makes entrepreneurship a force to be reckoned with. However, is everyone cut out to be an entrepreneur? The personality type, professional track, and payment risk of an individual shapes an entrepreneur:

• Personality Type: Almost all successful entrepreneurs who begin business from concept to development felt a compelling need to disrupt the status quo, even if that meant dropping out of school and creating business in a basement.
• Professional Track: Entrepreneurs generally do not feel the need to receive formal academic training first in order to grasp business opportunities. What initially matters is having passion for the product, the burning need to improve and conquer the market demand.
• Payment Risk: Entrepreneurs know that initial revenue and income can be sporadic and non-linear in the early days. The risk/reward equation for a successful entrepreneur is almost quantum in nature. This factor tends to make or break the entrepreneur: the relationship to money and the willingness to lose a structured approach to income from inception to later stage.

These traits generally can pinpoint the entrepreneurial spirit. However, the chaotic climate of today’s professional world has created the unlikely entrepreneur. The definition of the unlikely entrepreneur is:

“A professional who is perfect fit for corporate hierarchy, but has been placed into an entrepreneurial role as a survival mechanism.”

Over the past two decades economic recessions and corporate downsizing have left many professionals unemployed. If an individual’s personality, professional track, and payment risk always leaned more towards being top management in a hierarchically structured corporate setting then entrepreneurship may be quite difficult. In reality, we operate in a systemic society that has a predilection for corporate driven business as opposed to entrepreneurial endeavors. This means that the majority of individuals on an international scale have been geared to work in a hierarchical business setting from early education level. Yet, we observe less and less need for human capital longevity with automation and a focus on the bottom line. In this regard, what we have is a supply of professionals with a newly created demand for entrepreneurs. And the gap is not that easily bridged. A person who is laid off does not immediately become an entrepreneur on fire!

Most would agree that a negative career event gives a chance to explore hidden avenues to create a new life. However, the laid-off professional who follows the path of circumstance to become the unlikely entrepreneur has two factors to work through:

• This individual has been willingly trained to follow preset procedures and processes; to report in a defined chain of command; to accept hierarchical authority; to understand corporate or public sector industry jargon; to plan his/her personal life based on employee salary, bonus, perks and benefits. The entrepreneurial world offers none of this structure at inception.
• The psyche of an individual who has been retired early, fired or severed is most likely in distress, no matter how large a severance package received. Just look at the verbiage used to describe the process of removing an employee from a job – caustic. Someone who feels let down by a system that he/she respects may not be able to immediately create entrepreneurial channels due to psychological duress.

It is not uncommon to see this type of professional move into lower level part-time jobs instead of fully exploring the entrepreneurial spectrum, simply to stay in a similar work structure. Unlikely entrepreneurs need the most emotional hand holding through the business creation process. These entrepreneurs already have an upper hand in understanding structure and systems. However, an innate need for hierarchical approval may hinder or sabotage self-employment capabilities. We can best help to foster our unlikely entrepreneurs as follows:

• These entrepreneurs cannot be left stationary, in thinking or visioning mode for long. They are doers, who seek results. A structured institution such as the Rotary Club works well in keeping these individuals active and important in the community.
• Overall, these individuals need much less criticism and much more encouragement from their family and loved ones. What their immediate entourage thinks is extremely important to them.
• A seasoned motivational coach is a must have in this case. First, a coach allows for a hierarchical relationship. Second, the coach gives very result-oriented encouragement with timelines to follow.
• Many professionals tend to be knowledge driven. Thus, these individuals may be encouraged to further education in either their previous fields, in the chosen entrepreneurial field, or both. This gives a sense of industry authority and ability.

To be realistic, an unlikely entrepreneur also may need to eventually return to the professional world, since personality and career path calling may demand as such. What is valuable in this case is the professional turned unlikely entrepreneur would have found a possible side-venture to tap into creativity and self-generated profit. This happy medium may be the formula for alleviating the human capital systemic changes of our times.