Turning down a promotion....?

[jester]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping all the experts here could give me some advice on an issue I've been struggling with.

My dream is to become an entrepreneur and nothing else. I want to be in control of my fate so to speak. As a result I've been reading non-stop - about a book a week, and am currently taking classes at the local community college on starting and running a business, accounting, public speaking etc. to ready myself for when that time comes.

I a recent college grad and have a very stable job as a tech support engineer at a small company. My job pays about 50K per year that I've been working at for just about a year now. This is enough money for me to save a little but barely enough to save up for a house or anything large. This job is 9-5. No work is taken home.

Prior to catching the entrepreneurial bug, I had a set path of where I wanted to go and have already acquired a couple IT certification to put me well on my way.
Tech Support > Network Admin > Network Engineer > Network Architect
In terms of money:
50-60K > 60K - 70K > 70K - 90K > 100K+

Now here's the problem:
I've been hinted at of a promotion to Network Engineer which is about a 20K pay raise in a couple of months. I have 2 choices:

1) If I take it, I'll be expected to take the IT certifications that will bring me to the 100K+ mark within the next two years. This means all of my time AFTER work, i.e. all my free time will be dedicated to studying for this, and I'll have very little time for entrepreneurial endeavors. This is the SAFE path and is basically saying: "If I don't make it I can fall back".

2) I can turn down the promotion and stay with my menial job while still having alot of time to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors, however only earning just enough to get by. This is basically saying: "It's do or die" and I'm commited to "The path of the entrepreneur", and thus will force me to find other means of cash flow.

If I accept I feel like I'd be "wasting" 2+ years of my life, albeit the monetary payoff is significant and it is SAFE.
If I decline, I'm burning my bridges but committing 100% to my dream.

What would you all do?

-Toughest decision of my life

[akula]

play safe. successful venture outcomes depend on founders having industry insight and experience.

to maximise your chances of success in startups you may need to execute the first phase: accept the promotion, hit industry events, make a name for your self so when you strike out on your own you have access to resources.

successful corporate careers are a necessary initial phase of successful careers in entrepreneurship

[YouDidWhat]

Ditto. Work for the big man, learn the ways. Let him influence your fate now, so he can ask you where you want his to be later.

Right now I sit in an office after making the same choice you did. And it sucks, I'm not going to lie to you, but I know it was the right decision.

YouDidWhat

[jester]

play safe. successful venture outcomes depend on founders having industry insight and experience.

Great advice Akula - thanks! Interesting point.

This is assuming I plan to start a business in the industry I work in...If I don't isn't it all for nought? I understand I'll gain good experience by building a successful corporate career...but if it's in an industry unrelated then it would seem like it doesn't really help right?

[jester]

Ditto. Work for the big man, learn the ways. Let him influence your fate now, so he can ask you where you want his to be later.

Thanks YouDid for the insight. It's good to know there are others who have made the same decision I'm thinking of making. I wonder if anyone here has chosen the other path.....hmmm.

It's just that I've pretty much come to the conclusion through my research and readings that it DOESN'T take money to make money, or atleast not much. So money isn't really an issue....

The thing I like most is with Tech support there's a lot of down-time. So in an 8-hour day, I can spend a significant amount of this time (sometimes the whole day) researching business ideas etc. Almost an extra 20 hours+ per week. This would be gone if I decided to work for the big man.

[akula]

Great advice Akula - thanks! Interesting point.

This is assuming I plan to start a business in the industry I work in...If I don't isn't it all for nought? I understand I'll gain good experience by building a successful corporate career...but if it's in an industry unrelated then it would seem like it doesn't really help right?

no, it does help for lots of reasons. here are some more important ones:

1) Trust: It's difficult to work for an entrepreneur who has a blank resume. You will be both an unattractive boss and an unattractive investment.

2) Skills: Business skills are not natural. They must be developed by working in structured corporate environments. It doesn't matter what industry. Business skills are homogeneous. You can't start a business if you've never been inside a business, because you don't know what business is.

3) Networks: I've done what you're thinking of doing and it's not smart. When you are a nobody doing some kind of startup, and you don't have any friends who've done the yards in professional working environments; you are an underdog as a result of your own imprudence.

Disclaimer: It's a certainty that I would not push my kids into entrepreneurship. This is for a lot of reasons; both practical and philosophical. Personally, I am not a fan of opportunity driven entrepreneurship. I don't think people should engage in startups unless that's the ONLY option available for them (i.e. it's necessary).

So, I am probably the wrong person to speak to. The only advice I can give is that if you are going to play Russian roulette with your life - then you should probably stay in the industry a bit to manage your risks. There don't need to be 5 rounds in the cylinder. One is just as thrilling.

[The Stealthy One]

It sounds simple and there's no method to it, but here's the advice I will impart:

Go with your gut, whatever it's saying. You feel that way for a reason.

[jester]

no, it does help for lots of reasons. here are some more important ones:
.......
You can't start a business if you've never been inside a business, because you don't know what business is.

Wow, thanks Akula. Very insightful and exactly what I was looking for. I guess there are a lot of pluses to staying working than I didn't think of previously.

I understand that it is important to know how a business works before starting one but, and correct me if I'm wrong, isn't there the case of many entrepreneurs who have started businesses who had no experience whatsoever? Or likewise, if you've been working at a "dead-end" office-job for 3 years can you really say that you've gotten three good years of experience seeing how the business works?

Wouldn't it be much more "educational" to start on your own, and even, god forbid FAIL , than have worked those extra 2 years trying to learn the internal working of a business from the limited perspective you have at your job?

[JesseLear]

Hey, I don't have much time to expand on this, but here's my gut-level response to your dilemma.

Listen, you're still young! You've got plenty of time. While I definitely understand how tough it will be to have no time for your own ventures while you're studying for certification, we're only talking about a few years here. Yes, jobs suck. I know. And yeah, I can see how it would be tempting to just jump out in faith and hopefully become a crazy success story. But in your situation, I'd stick with it and shoot for getting that $100K+ promotion as soon as possible. Get the promotion, enjoy the money, learn everything you can. Think about it. Sure, it'll take you a little time to get the certification you'll need and you'll have very little free time during that period. But dude. If you make that small sacrifice, you'll soon have a $100K income AND spare time to work on your entrepreneurial endeavors (after you're certified). Stick with it for a little while. Reap the benefits of what you've spent the last X years in school sowing. You've got time.

From the info you gave me, that's what I would personally recommend. It's only my opinion. Keep us updated on what you decide!

[907Group]

Very good advice from akula..

You are still young.. plenty of time left for what you really want to do down the road. Look... Google founders didn't get things started until late 20's.. so was duo with yahoo.. mid 30's

I rather learn much as I can and get the experience plus once you start rolling in that cash.. you'll have enough money for any venture you want to start.

Good luck with everything. sounds like you got a nice career path head of you!

[jester]

If you make that small sacrifice, you'll soon have a $100K income AND spare time to work on your entrepreneurial endeavors (after you're certified). Stick with it for a little while. Reap the benefits of what you've spent the last X years in school sowing. You've got time.

Thanks again everyone. Great advice and totally priceless. The only advice I'd been getting prior is from parents, which is obviously to take the safe route...with no real reasoning - since they are so locked into 'security' and climbing the corporate ladder.

Jesse - totally true. Two years now and I'll have plenty of money to do whatever I want with. I've decided to JesseLeartake the promotion. I'll let you guys know how things go....

Google founders didn't get things started until late 20's.. so was duo with yahoo.. mid 30's

Thanks for pointing that out 907. I guess it seems like I am rushing it a bit. It won't hurt to spend two more years buliding some wealth prior to starting a business - along with getting some real world experience. I guess I can't really get a good sense of business having only worked full-time for about a year and a half total.

[Arki]

Everyone here will preach to you about working for yourself or stop working for the man. But you have a great oppurtunity to secure capital and gain a shitload of experience. And you have tons of time to make risks, so whynot go with the 'easy' money and use it as an experience builder.

[jester]

Everyone here will preach to you about working for yourself or stop working for the man. But you have a great oppurtunity to secure capital and gain a shitload of experience. And you have tons of time to make risks, so whynot go with the 'easy' money and use it as an experience builder.

From alot of the books I've been reading, and stories from successful entrepreneurs, a recurring theme is that many of them started out with very little or no money. And when they did need money, they were forced to creatively find other ways to secure this - whether it be from friends, family, loans, angel investors etc.

So really how important is money? By having no money to start, the entrepreneur has to think much more creatively on how to get money to start, and how to use it effectively (bootstrapping).

I totally see the 'easy' money thing though by working for the man and the 'easy' definitely belongs in quotes cuz it will be far from that. So my biggest push for NOT taking the promotion wasn't gaining money but losing TIME.

Here's a great quote I remember reading:
You can't make time with money, but you can make money with time.

Any thoughts?

[akula]

Wow, thanks Akula. Very insightful and exactly what I was looking for. I guess there are a lot of pluses to staying working than I didn't think of previously.

I understand that it is important to know how a business works before starting one but, and correct me if I'm wrong, isn't there the case of many entrepreneurs who have started businesses who had no experience whatsoever? Or likewise, if you've been working at a "dead-end" office-job for 3 years can you really say that you've gotten three good years of experience seeing how the business works?

Wouldn't it be much more "educational" to start on your own, and even, god forbid FAIL , than have worked those extra 2 years trying to learn the internal working of a business from the limited perspective you have at your job?

Yeah, that's some interesting points about starting early, failing early and learning as a result of mistakes, plus the other stuff about peeps starting companies without prior experience.

But I tell you what; you're faced with a decision on whether to take the plunge or nor. There's really something you should know: the depth of startup hell that you're plunging into are a lot more horrific than all the rosy success stories lead the average person to believe.

In general terms, which describe the general case; entrepreneurs (US and otherwise) are all extremely unhappy, poor, broken, frantic and unsatisfied. They're just overworked, bitter people who can't maintain relationships. So, really, since you are in a position to make decisions; you'd probably want to take some time and think about how you can avert the life on an average entrepreneur.

It's certainly no picnic, definitely a lot worse than a corporate setup, and something you really should consider averting.

You must understand that by plunging into entrepreneurship, you will be operating on your own in a hostile, chaotic environment. There's a lot more latitude for seriously fucking one's life up when you're outside of a structured environment where all the next steps have basically been worked out for you.

[jester]

In general terms, which describe the general case; entrepreneurs (US and otherwise) are all extremely unhappy, poor, broken, frantic and unsatisfied. They're just overworked, bitter people who can't maintain relationships.

Akula, I love your no fluff approach to advice. It's funny that you're willing to discourage people from taking the entrepreneurial leap in a forum focused on entrepreneurs and just makes me feel like you've really been there and done that...

That's quite a broad generalization there - but don't get me wrong, I've heard over and over again that the life of an entrepreneur is hard as hell. Many times harder than that of a "worker-bee". Maybe I made it sound like all entrepreneur's are living lavish, easy lives, where they just kick back and let money roll into their bank account. They would be a HUGE oversight on my part. To be honest, not having a steady paycheck come in every 2 weeks scares the shit out of me - but living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of my life, working day in day out making someone else rich for the next 30+ years and finally getting the "priveledge" to retire scares me even more.

At the same time, I guess that's the price you pay for the CHANCE to become financially independent - to write your own paycheck. There's no guarantees in life and I'm aware of that. I'm probably very naive too, in that I have no idea how hard it really is. All I know is from what I hear and despite what you or anyone else says, there's no way to REALLY know but to do it right?

After hearing your advice it makes sense that 2 or 3 years will give me some really good experience working, build up some money and provide some fine networking opportunities, and I'm planning to do just that.

Out of curiosity - how long were you working for akula before taking the leap?