For many people in our country the American Dream of owning their own business is still alive and well. Moreover, they’re not just dreaming, they’re doing something about it. Last year startups increased in 32 of the 50 states, the biggest increase in 2 decades (Kauffman Index: Startup Activity, 2015). This is a reversal of the last 5 year’s downward trend.
There are many reasons why more people are becoming entrepreneurs. Their motivations are as varied as the individuals who have the drive and desire to take the risk. Coupled with these unique motivations is the universal reason people start a company — control. Control over: time, money, quality, procedures, ethics, product/service development, etc.
The dream of having ultimate control is a primary one for most entrepreneurs. A bedrock belief for the majority of them is, “Things will be better once I’m in charge, because I’ll make the decisions and have the final authority”. And it’s true, having authority is one of the main benefits of ownership. It gives people the opportunity to finally make their ideas a reality.
Unfortunately, what’s also a reality is that in addition to control they also have responsibility, which is usually where the trouble starts. Too often the dream of business ownership is really magical thinking and not based in the real world. Many small businesses owners want to be in charge without the actual responsibility that goes with it.
Often owners want the control (viewed as positive) without the responsibilities (seen as negative) of: learning and doing tasks (i.e. marketing, sales, understanding financials, customer complaints, quality issues) outside their interests and comfort zone; showing up motivated every day to deal with challenging, as well as, boring day to day operations; actively managing people who don’t want to be managed or do their jobs.
Running a business is a difficult, never ending and time consuming process. People who start a company quickly learn that ownership is not what they imagined it would be. Most small businesses’ problems can be traced to the owner’s dream of control without him accepting the reality of responsibility. This is the primary reason that most small businesses fail.
