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Life beyond the water cooler
Your life -- remember that? Your family may have been hoping to have more of you, not less, when you left corporate.
"It isn't always the money," says Marshack. "The lifestyle can be distressing, too. How is this going to affect them? Is this going to be so adverse that it actually isn't worth it?"
And you won't have that old gang at the water cooler to keep you pumped anymore, either.
"You may feel cut off and isolated," says Paradise. "You may be viewed by some with admiration and by others with some scorn. Who are you to think you can go out and do this on your own? You have a lot of gall to think you're that competent. You sound a bit arrogant.
"Others may have a quiet envy, wishing they could do that, too."
Congratulations! You're CEO
Perhaps the biggest single ingredient for success is self-confidence. You have to believe in yourself, not just as an employee anymore but as an entrepreneur, the big cheese, numero uno.
Marshack says that's where your corporate experience can be a real plus.
"Lots of people who have worked in corporate life actually are really suitable to start their own businesses," she says. "If they've done project-based work, if they had to manage a team of people, if they've had to go out and develop things, if somebody has those kinds of skills, it's probably a pretty natural transition.
"Of course the difference is, there's really nobody backing you up. There are no regular paychecks coming in, there are no benefits. It's all up to you to get this going."
Roll up your sleeves and forge ahead
Her advice: Check your MBA at the door, roll up your
sleeves and by all means stick with it.
"I don't think you have to be a certain personality type or anything like that to be a business owner," says Marshack. "All the research shows that we can't come up with a personality profile for entrepreneurs."
She notes that business success has nothing to do with intelligence, nothing to do with how much backing you have, nothing to do with what industry you're in or what product you're trying to develop.
"The only thing that's relevant is if the person is tenacious," says Marshack. "If they're willing to just hang in there and keep plugging away at it, they will probably be successful.
"You have to believe in yourself."
Jay MacDonald is a contributing editor based in Austin, Texas.
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