Today's Pondering

I was just sitting here thinking about how often here in the States the entrepreneurial dream is partly driven by the success stories we hear. You know, the 22yr old kid who started up FaceBook, the woman who started up the bodyshaping, seamless undies that are a huge hit with Oprah and others, the "friend of a friend" who got the sole distribution rights to Swingline staplers (ok, I made that last one up).

So in many cases, even after doing all our due diligence and research, we entrepreneurs (and those who dream of being one some day) are dreamers and we typically like to dream big. To be completely truthful, my dream was to build this business and then sell it for $15M. That figure's been rounded down slightly in my mind to about a $5M sell price and I have a ways to go to even having a shot of making that a reality.

But I was sitting here wondering about all those people who start off small businesses that essentially stay small. Would I be happy doing this for the next 10-15-20 years if it continued to stay small? Would you?

Now know that I wouldn't be able to continue on this vein if the company didn't break even, but let's say that your company is turning in a profit that is either enough for you to comfortably live on or in combination with your spouse's income you and your family can live comfortably but not outlandishly on. Would you still be able to run the business knowing that? Would you question where you would be in your corporate career had you not gone the entrepreneurial route?

As I sit here right now I can say that if the business were to stay exactly the way it is today I couldn't keep doing this for the rest of time. However, if I had a handful of good employees so I didn't necessarily feel like all of this was on my shouldars every minute of every day, then yes, I do think I could even if I didn't have my $5M selling option. I think I could keep doing it because it provides me with a tremendous amount of stimulation, opportunity to learn, and freedom of creativity that is a tough combination for me to get in a corporate job. At the same time, with a few employees, I would have substantially more flexibility. Not to say that I wouldn't work just as hard, but as I think about one day having kids, that flexibility is priceless in being able to balance kids' need for parental time and attention (and my desire to spend time with them as well) and my own need for outside adult stimulation. And in that way my business, while not providing me with that dream $5-$15M, would provide me with the life that I want regardless and isn't that worth working towards?