The Grass is Always Greener....

I talk to a lot of people who want to make big career moves. Consultants, entrepreneurs and coaches are lured by the steady paycheck and illusion of stability working within a company. Those looking for work think they'd be successful entrepreneurs, consultants or coaches--they've got this great idea....

Personally, I think you fall into one camp or the other; few of us do well at both. I think there's a gene for entrepreneurship; you either have it or you don't. If you don't, no amount of classes in an MBA program will teach it to you.

But you know the saying: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. So how do you decide what to do?

Before I launch, for the sake of full disclosure I want to let you know that 1) I make a lousy employee and 2) I'm an entrepreneur at heart. Having laid that out, here are the arguments for and against each career choice.

Case 1: You're Working Solo and Want to Go In-House
Look around you. See all those folks at the local coffee shop? What do you think they're doing there? Where were all these people this time last year? Working. At jobs they had before the economy crashed. Here are the naked realities of working in corporate America today:

• There is no job security. There hasn't been for decades, but what little there was is gone now. You can lose your job tomorrow with no warning, for no other reason than you're a line item on a budget that's too big.
• Benefits are either expensive or non-existent. The sad fact is, health insurers have priced their products out of the reach of many businesses. So if you want to go in-house for the benefits, find a company that still offers them. If you can.
  
• Pensions are rare and many firms no longer contribute to 401(k) plans. Never mind what the 401(k)s are worth today. I guess the good news is you'd be investing near the bottom of the market...
• Your salary may be cut to preserve jobs. Even if not, salaries are calculated on a 40-hour week. Do you know anyone that works a 40 hour week?
• With all the people being cut, the work still has to get done. So figure on even bigger workloads.

Having said all that, let's talk about the good stuff:

• You'll probably get to work with the same people every day. One big complaint of solo workers is the loneliness: no sense of team, no one to talk to at the water cooler.
• If you like working at home, telecommuting is becoming more and more accepted. So you can have a job and still answer the phone in your jammies if you want.
• The paycheck is steady and, unless you're in Sales, you don't have to do any business development or sales work. Many folks don't like this part of running their own business, and it's a big draw back into the corporate world.
• Big companies offer the chance to work on big, important life-changing projects. It's much harder to find that device that will change everything in a small firm or start-up.
  

OK, now let's lay out the case for those of you who think you want to go solo.

Case 2: You've Got This Fabulous Idea/You're Really, Really Good at (Fill-in-the-Blank)
As I tell clients who've recently lost their jobs and think they want to start their own businesses, it's a great life:

• You get to work any 16 hours of the day, any 7 days of the week you want. Really. You can set your own schedule. You are now officially the IT guy, the sales person, the website designer, tech support, the office manager, the cafeteria worker, the mail delivery clerk. Don't underestimate all the administrative stuff, because it can sink you.
  
• You need to know what your cash flow is going to be for the next 1-3 years. How are you going to pay the bills? Seriously. Business cases are largely fiction; nearly everyone estimates they're going to get "just 1/2 percent of the global market." You may, but you've got to pay the bills between now and your first paying customer. You know all those overnight successes? They're fiction. It takes 3-7 years to get a business up and stable. Most (95%) don't make it that far.
• You need a support network: friends, family, significant other, colleagues. If you're in a marriage or long-term relationship, have a frank discussion with your significant other. You need them in your camp. More important, they need to know what they're in for. It's a tough conversation, but it's only fair. Because if they don't support you, you've got a nearly impossible hill to climb.
  
• Sure you're really smart, hard-working, your partner is behind you 110%, and you've got the money to make it. Who are your customers? What problem do you solve for them? It's not about what you've got to sell, it's about what they're willing to buy. So what is it, in 10 words or less? Can't do it without reading a page from the business plan? Then you don't have anything to sell, because you don't understand what problem you're solving for your potential customers/clients.
  
• How will you let customers know you're out there? (Deduct 10 points right now if you said "I'll write a blog." Take another 50 off if you answered, "Twitter.") How do you feel about sales--aka "business development?" It's more than endless coffees at Starbucks, webinars on selling, and networking groups. Really, how are you going to sell your product or service? What specifically will you do, by when, with what expected results?
  

As the man in my life reminds me: if it were all that damn easy, more people would start businesses.

The positives of running your own business:

• If you screw something up, you get to fix it--and you learn how to offer a better product or service while you're at it. Lose an important customer? Figure out how to get her back, or fix the problem so you don't lose another. Better yet, you're not dependent on someone else screwing something up.
  
• You can respond on a dime to changing opportunities. It doesn't take a planning committee or a strategy session with board member approval to figure out new ways to serve customers. You can do it over a cup of coffee while you're waking up. Then you get to try it out on your next customer and see if it works.
  
• You get to listen to customer feedback and react immediately. There's nothing better than the first time a client tells you what a great job you did, or how your product or service solved a big problem for them. They just did you two huge favors: they made your day and they wrote your next marketing message for you.
  
• Chickens get fat on crumbs. You don't need to sell a million dollar project to pay the bills; you can probably get by on a few projects priced in the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars. Or maybe by selling a whole lot of something at $14.95 off a website you designed and developed.
  
• You get to do something you love doing, and get paid for it. Yes, some folks in corporate jobs can say that, but most of us start businesses doing things we're good at and we love to do. Every day is a challenge, but every day we get to enjoy the fruits of our work.
  

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. While this is a fantastic time to make a big career change, it's going to be tougher than staying the course. Don't give up on what you're doing now unless you hate it so much you can't bear it any longer. Double down, focus, and go for broke. Whatever that means for you.