Jump!

I often get emails from people who read my blog and follow what I do. I try to answer them all as much as possible (sorry if it doesn’t work). One question I’m often asked is about the leap into self-employment or entrepreneurship. Here are a few thoughts on this.

(Reading time 4 minutes)

Standing at the top of the cliff

The people who ask me whether they should take the step into entrepreneurship have usually already come a long way. On the one hand, mostly professionally. But almost always mentally.

I like to compare the process of switching to entrepreneurship with jumping off a cliff. You have to deal with it, climb the cliff from the flat side. This is usually a longer process. Established people who have already had a professional career make up the majority of company founders. Breaking out of their supposed security and into an uncertain future is the biggest mental step for many.

Once all these considerations have been made, these people stand, figuratively speaking, on top of this cliff, with a parachute that you don’t really know whether it will carry you. And then they write me an email. In 99 out of 100 cases, I advise them to jump. I sometimes imagine it as if I were standing next to them and shouting “Jump!”.

Is it going wrong?

The leap in and of itself must be really scary. It is also a leap out of your comfort zone. It changes your personal circumstances. Does the parachute open properly – in other words, can the company gain a foothold in the market? Completely open. Founders usually have a draconian idea of failure. In reality, it is usually less bad. This is also because new doors usually open again and again.

The definition of success and failure almost always changes over time. The business model is often adapted and realigned.

Interaction between risk and ambition

I think that the decision to set up a company for people who are already in professional life should always be seen as a trade-off between acceptable risk and one’s own ambition.

I think most people are quite ambitious, but on the other hand they are not risk-conscious enough. This leads many people to become dissatisfied with their risk-free but monotonous lives.

Another factor is professional success. For a long time, I myself was very afraid to really take on a lot of entrepreneurial risk. I always had and/or was involved in companies in which I had shares or a say. However, it only gradually became clear to me that I would never be happy with this. Even though I enjoyed my work and had always been able to earn good money. One day, I suddenly realized that the money in the bank wasn’t going to help me.

So I was faced with the decision to continue as before or to change things fundamentally. I opted for the latter, which for me meant founding a high-risk venture every five years and being involved in as many start-ups as possible at the same time. That’s not a recipe for an easy life. It’s more of a recipe for constant drama. But something that I think suits me.

So two years ago, although I’ve always been a self-employed entrepreneur in some way, I was standing on the cliff myself. And I shouted at myself: “Jump!”

Why I then actually jumped had to do with the simple consideration that if I just carry on like this now, I will lose more on balance than if I jump. Maybe not necessarily financially, but in my life in general.

“I honor everyone who tries. Simply because trying something new is always better than maintaining the status quo. And because every beginning has something magical about it.”

Anything is possible – if you only believe in it

I often hear battle cries such as “Anything is possible – you just have to believe in it”. I think that’s utter nonsense. There are many things that are not or not yet possible and believing in them is probably the least helpful thing.

In addition to motivating young entrepreneurs to take the plunge, I usually also give them a few tips. If you think you’re about to hear a lot of wise things, you’re mistaken. It’s all much more banal than you’re constantly being told in the relevant start-up formats.

The important things are not hip. It’s more traditional virtues such as hard work and discipline that really get you ahead. What makes the difference is probably not giving up. Evenif that would feel right. If you can still go your own way with gratitude, it will be easier. And in the end, as many people underestimate, it simply takes an incredible amount of luck. The more you do, the more you get involved, the more fortunate circumstances arise. There’s nothing esoteric about it. It’s more a mundane calculation of probability.

So if you are thinking about starting a business or becoming self-employed, I can only say one thing: do it. Because as Erich Kästner said:

“There is nothing good unless you do it.

”
So do it.