About the Author
Paul Madgwick
Paul Madgwick spent 8 years in the marketing departments of fast moving consumer goods blue chip multinational organisations of Nestle, Kimberly Clark and PepsiCo, marketing and managing brands of Kleenex, Ruffles, Cheetos and Doritos. He learnt his craft well and applied the professionalism of a large corporation to a start up business. He and a partner borrowed significant capital, relocated states, and under license manufactured and marketed Dynamic Lifter for the home garden market in Australia. Ten years later due to the collective efforts of the licensor in the agricultural market, Paul and his partner in the home garden market, a brilliant product and some clever marketing many would argue the brand became generic for organic fertiliser. In the beginning neither Paul nor his partner had knowledge of agriculture or horticulture but between them possessed many of the qualities outlined in this article.
Now some years later Paul Madgwick with the assistance of partners and a talented supporting team has launched Careernav, a career and life skills pathway for senior secondary students. This website demonstrates many of the personal skills and commercial activities needed for the venture to be successful. We hope Careernav helps you make an informed career choice. Time will tell if Paul and his team are made of the right stuff.
By
Paul Madgwick
Pros of entrepreneurship
- Independence: You are your own boss. You make all important decisions, and you have control over your own future.
- Freedom of choice & flexibility: You can choose your own hours, employees, business style, work location, culture and environment.
- Financial rewards: If successful, you earn not only a wage or salary for your efforts but personal wealth from shares in and dividends from a profitable organization You may enjoy tax advantages from a company structure.
- Excitement: Entrepreneurs deal with high levels of risk, and so there is also a sense of adventure - perhaps equally made up of anticipation of success and apprehension of failure!
- Competition and originality: You could be filling a niche in the market or blazing the trail for a new market and so will have the advantages of reduced competition and a high level of customer interest .
- Job security: You manage your own employment but you will need income protection insurance.
- Utilising your talents or limitations: You can create the business to make the best use of your talents, such as skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications, and creativity. Many successful entrepreneurs have been able to overcome disadvantages, including actual disabilities.
- Self-satisfaction: Starting your own business will bring a great sense of personal achievement and recognition.
Cons of entrepreneurship
- Business failure: The chance of business failure is high, some say as high as 90%. Success can never be guaranteed.
- Time-consuming schedule: The working hours of an entrepreneur are long, unpredictable and impact on your relationships. The buck stops with you, you’re on-call in an emergency, and while the business is starting up, you’ll likely be working overtime to reduce costs and ensure operational excellence
- Salary/Financial risk: You relinquish the security of a regular paycheck. Initially entrepreneurs generally have a reduced and spasmodic income. And in the event of a failed venture not only have you lost opportunity income but lost real income and likely some hard assets as well..
- Sacrifices: There are a number of things you will have to sacrifice while you are starting up your own business. Time with family, friends and other loved ones, sufficient sleep, financial stability, and a calm mind, are all things you will need to sacrifice at different times.
- Pressure and Stress: You will feel significant pressure to become cash positive and succeed. The uncertainty of the income will cause unwanted stress. Another source of stress is that ‘the buck stops with you’ in unanticipated ways, perhaps right down to putting out the dustbins.
- Benefits: You are likely need to be less generous with yourself with regard to fringe benefits and this may impinge on your family lifestyle, especially in the start-up phase.
- Procedures: You may find the absence of formal policies and procedures place additional burdens on you.
- Responsibility: You will have a range of responsibilities. Since you are the boss, you can’t leave these for someone in a higher rank to do. Essentially, everything is up to you.
Many successful business people have failed as entrepreneurs. The keys to success include sufficient capital, a great product and great staff, a market that really wants your product or service, and some clever marketing. It can be a tough decision whether or not to venture into the exciting, uncertain career path of an entrepreneur. You must have what it takes to survive in the competitive world of business and own most – if not all – of the entrepreneurial qualities listed above. But it’s not all stress, pressure and financial insecurity. Once your business takes off, you can have the luxury of a stable income, choice of work hours, the personal satisfaction of having founded a successful business and the personal wealth it has created.
Only then can you look back and say ‘I did that’.
[ xxxxxxxxxxxxx ]