I was reading this post this morning by Seth Godin wherein he talks about wearing more than one hat.
I have been thinking a lot about this recently for myself personally, particularly around the idea of an entrepreneur being only an entrepreneur. Can you be both an employee and an entrepreneur? Or does it have to be one or the other?
I was reading a book by Hugh MacLeod a few months ago, author of Ignore Everybody. In the book, Hugh talks about how he started his current business while working for others, and that it allowed him to really find his niche without the pressure of having to make a living at it. It also allowed him the time to figure out if it was something he could do for a living and not hate it. One of his 39 keys to creativity in fact was that you NOT quit your full time job if you have one. By the way, if you have not seen Hugh's artwork or read his book, I highly recommend it.
I have seen it be successful both ways. I know serial entrepreneurs that swear by the fact that you have to dive in and be 100% committed or it will never work. I also know people that have started out tinkering with something and grown it to the point where it was enough for them to step into it full time ( see Hugh MacLeod ).
It seems to me that there is the right answer, but its not the same for every person. Based on your ability to take on risk either financially or emotionally, there is probably some sort of scale.
What are your thoughts?
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5 comments:
Agreed - its not the same for all. But I think the project you are getting into matters more than your ability to take on risks. You generally don't start a capital intensive project "on the side" though you would with just about every etsy.com / ebay.com business out there.
I don't think my brother could have become an author by jumping hook-line and sinker into writing a book for a major publisher without slowly building a podcast audience in his spare time. He never would have had the financial resources to cover that, risk tolerance or not. Though you could never start a FedEx, for example, without jumping in, hook-line and sinker, day one. Either you have the equipment to do overnight delivery or you don't. Seems more of a capital availability issue than a risk tolerance one to me. Of course where capital requirements are low and the business lives or dies on little more than ideas and execution, there is a very tangible give and take.
It's an interesting position. I think that although there's a tremendous benefit to the thinker and the inventor having the cushion and comfort of being an employee while finding his niche I'm not sure it's entirely ethical.
As long as a company is getting the value out of you that they think their expense is worth I guess it really doesn't matter to them, but on some level don't they deserve the bulk of your creative energies and your stresses since they are willing to fund your lifestyle?
At a number of organizational levels in a company I think it's fine to simply execute orders, but at the level you'd find someone creative and motivated enough to start their own business I think that you could make the argument that if they'd invested the same effort and energey even in a different discipline, but for their employer that it would have been a huge benefit to the employer so in a way, taking this to the extreme conclusion and at the risk of accusing myself of bad behavior, it's a kind of stealing.
I think the vastly more interesting sceanarios are the ones where a company has found a way to encourage that inventive and creative spirit, has put in place mechanisms that accomodate these types of people to the benefit of the company and the individual. Like the google 20% you were telling me about.
Anyway the real reason I was posting a comment is that the title 'Jack of more than one trade' made me want to make a dirty joke. I'm a child. :D
Sorry for the wicked bad grammar and punctuation. It is late and I was typing as fast as thinking.
Interesting.
I am curious what people would think if your entrepreneurial efforts had nothing to do with your day job.
What if you are a stock trader by day, but make stain glass pane windows at night? Is there still the same ethical / moral dilemma? Are you still stealing from your employer at that point? Or, is it only theft if you are using the energy that would go toward your employer somewhere else?
It's a complex issue. I agree with most of what you said, and I think in the field that we are in, it's a source of somewhat constant friction. Most people in technology are always looking at / for the next thing.
If you are an employer, what kinds of things can / should you be doing to make sure that your employees are properly incented to share their creative talent / energy 100% with you? Is it money / time off / notoriety? A combination of all three? Or maybe something else entirely.
Heath
Think you're overthinking it, IMHO.
You can also tell that if you're busy with smth else beside your day job you're stealing - because you get tired and can't work as hard as you could.
Ethics is complicated enough question. I can also imagine that side activities can improve your day job experience, especially if you're kind of stuck with it. It may bring some inspiration.
From the other hand i've seen successful engineers who went on their own business when they faced with role changing on their day job. Not to management but more related to business stuff.
But i've never thought about this topic from your viewpoint, thanks.
As to the main question - dive into new or keep current day job, it's not just the question of safety. Hugh put keeping his day job as advantage, but in most cases new projects mean money and time, and investing half hour in the evening can't really do the trick if you're aiming very high.
But from the other side - half an hour and zero can make huge difference.
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