I Lost My Job! Should I Start a Business

    我丟了自己的工作，我該創業嗎？

    I get a lot of email that starts, "I just lost my job!" Somewhere in eachemail, the writer goes on to ask, "How do I start a business?"

    我收到很多郵件，開頭都是說"我丟了工作",然后在郵件中，他們就會開始問"我是否應該自己創業？"

    Morepeople are getting downsized, terminated or just plain fired all thetime. And because of the state of the economy, finding another job canbe difficult. Creating a job of your own by starting a business looksattractive when you can't find a job - or just can't stand the job youhave.

    很多人都被裁掉了，終止了合同關系或者就是簡單地被開除了。并且，由于當今經濟形勢不景氣，找到一份新工作很難。在你找不到工作或不能忍受自己工作的時候，創業聽起來很有吸引力。

    But"How do I start a business?" is not the first question you should beasking if you're in this situation; the first question you should beasking is "Should I start a business?" Before you start thinking aboutthe different types of businesses you might start, you have to do somethinking about you.

    但是如果你正處在這樣的情況下，那么"我該如何開始創業呢？"不是你最初開始該問的問題。你最該問的第一個問題是"我是否應該創業？"在你開始思考自己該發展什么類型的事業之前，你要先想想自己的情況。

    Startinga business is not for everyone. Being self-employed is very differentthan being an employee. And some people find it impossible to adjust tothe differences. Let's see if you have the necessary entrepreneurial mindset to become self-employed. These are the six traits that I think encapsulate the ways you have to think and behave if youwant to make a successful transition from being employed in some oneelse's business to starting a business of your own.

    并不是每個人都適合創業的。創業比打工難得多。有一部分人發現很難適應這些差距。讓我們來看看你是否有準備單干必備的企業心態。如果你想從給別人打工到自我創業成功轉型的話，那么我推薦以下六個你必須具備的思考方式和行動方式的特征。

    1.You have to be flexible to be self-employed.

    自我創業你必須要有靈活性

    If you start a business, you no longer have "one" job with clearly definedduties and responsibilities. You'll suddenly have multiple jobs, whichwill be often interrupted by unforeseen crises （particularly in thestartup phase）. Many employees are used to having days filled withpredictable activities; many self-employed people don't.

    如果你開始創業，你的工作就不是職責定義明確的一份工作和責任了。你會在突然間有了多份工作，也會被不可預見的危機中斷創業（尤其是在起始階段）.很多打工者習慣了每天按照既定的進程工作，而創業者則不行。

    Andonce you start a business, there's nowhere to pass the buck. As an employee, you may be used to passing problems up along the food chain or not be very involved in decision making. As a self-employed business owner, you're the one who will have to deal with whatever the crisis isand solve the problem. You're the one who will have to make the decisions.

    而且，一旦你開始創業后，就沒有地方讓你推卸責任。作為一名打工者，你或許習慣在食物鏈內推卸責任，或不涉及做出決策的工作。但是，作為一名創業的企業主，你是必須要處理危機，解決困難的人。你也是做出決策的人。

    2.You have to be a self-motivated initiator.

    你必須是一名善于自我激勵的人。

    When you're an employee, other people tell you what to do, either directlyor indirectly. You get used to having your actions directed by others.But you have to direct your own actions as a small business owner. Youcan't just sit there and hope that maybe some clients stroll in or thatsomeone will drop by out of the blue with inventory for your retailstore. No one's going to drop work on your desk or point out what needs to be done. For many people who try to become self-employed and start businesses after having a long-term full-time job, this is the hardest adjustment to make.

    當你是員工的時候，別人會直接或間接地告訴你該做什么。你習慣了在別人的指導下行動。但是作為小企業家你必須指導自己的行動。你不能只坐在那里，幻想著有客戶會自動上門，有人會下訂單將你零售商店的庫存都買走。沒人會將工作放在你面前，為你指出哪些事情是必須做的。對于大部分習慣了長時間的全職工作，突然想自主創業的人來說，這是最難跨越的一個難關。

    3.You have to be able to recognize opportunities and go after them.

    你要有發現機會，抓住機會的能力。

    Mostemployees do what they're assigned to do. There's someone else who's"assigned" to look out for opportunities, either a boss in a smallbusiness, or perhaps a sales department or a managerial team in a largecorporation. If you start a business, you need to be the one constantlywatching for opportunities - and be able to recognize them when you seethem. It might be a small opportunity, such as the chance to pick up anew client, or a large one, such as getting your product on the shelvesin a large retail chain, but as a small business owner, you have tokeep scanning the horizon yourself and positioning yourself to benefitfrom the opportunities that you find. As an employee, you may be usedto operating in a "head-down" position; if you're going to start abusiness and become successfully self-employed, you need to startoperating in the "head-up" position.

    Being self-employed is very different than being an employee and can be a difficult transition.

    大多數員工都是做著分配給自己的任務。也有人在分配的任務中尋找機會，也許是一家小企業的老板，也許是一家大公司的銷售部門或管理團隊成員。如果你開始了創業，你就要成為經常尋求機遇的人，并且在你碰到機遇的時候有能力分辨。也許是像接待客戶這樣的小機會，也許是在一家大型連鎖超市銷售你的產品這樣的大機遇，但是，作為一個小企業家來說，你必須隨時注意自己的周圍，并讓自己從發現的機遇中獲利。作為一名員工，你可能習慣于被領導的位置。如果你打算開始創業并取得成功的話，你就要開始習慣處在領導別人的地位。當老板和做員工有很大的不同，這個過渡會很困難。

    4.When you're self-employed, you have to be able to plan ahead.

    創業以后，你要能夠提前定好計劃

    Yourlast job may have involved no planning at all, as that was someoneelse's job. Or perhaps your job involved planning on a localized level,such as planning a particular project. If you want to start a business,you need to develop expertise in both short-term and long-range planning; it's about to become a big part of your life.

    或許你的上一份工作不需要任何計劃，因為制定計劃是其他人的事情。又或許你的工作只包括了限定水平的計劃，比如為一個特定項目制定計劃。如果你想自主創業，你就要專門開發自己制作長期計劃和短期計劃的能力。這將會占據你生活中的很大一部分。

    When you start a business, one of your first tasks will be to work through abusiness plan. As your business becomes operational, you'll find thatthis plan （however detailed） needs to be revised and that other plansneed to be created, as you work towards the long-range goals thatyou've set for your business. From following someone else's plan as anemployee, you have to learn how to create the plans yourself - andadapt the plans to changing circumstances.

    在開始創業后，你的第一個任務就是制作一份商業計劃。在你的事業開始運作后，你會發現這份計劃需要修改，為了使你的事業朝著你指定的長遠目標發展，你還需要制定其他的計劃。當員工的時候照著別人的計劃行事，你要從中學會如何自己制定計劃，并學會用這些計劃來改變環境。

    5.You need to be prepared to put in a constant and consistent effort.

    你要準備好持續，連貫的努力

    We'veall seen employees who are just going through the motions, or who werejust "putting in the time" until retirement. You don't need to be aco-worker to know who these people are. As a customer or client you cantell, too. Bluntly, starting a business takes energy, and you need tobe able to give it 100 percent. You can't afford to just coast along,or go through the motions, if you're running a business. Your customerand/or clients need to know that you are devoting 100 percent of yourtalent or skill or attention to them - and will go elsewhere if theydon't feel this is the case.

    我們都看到很多員工只是走走過場，或者只努力到退休前為止。即使你不是他們的同事而是客戶，你也知道有這樣的人存在。坦白說，創業需要能量，你需要付出100%的努力。如果你在經營事業的話，你不能只是走走過場而已。你的客戶，顧客需要知道你盡了自己100%的才能和技巧去吸引他們，如果這些不起作用的話，你也愿意做其他的嘗試。

    Worse, you need todeliver this constant and consistent effort without the employee safetynet. Many employees are used to being able to "call in sick" and havesomeone else cover their job, for instance. As a self-employed businessowner, you'll have to go in and give it your best effort no matter howyou feel or close up shop if you don't have employees who can fill in.You can also say goodbye to the holidays that many employees enjoy,both the annual x number of weeks and the statutory holidays, at least until your business is established to the point that you can manage your own time.

    更糟的是，你要在沒有員工安全網的情況下付出這樣的持續，連貫的努力。很多員工都習慣裝病，或讓別人幫忙掩蓋他們的工作。但是作為一名創業的企業家，你要堅持下去，不管你感覺如何都要盡自己最大的努力，也不能因為找不到替你的員工就關門休息。你也要對很多雇員喜歡的假期告別了，不管是每年幾周的假期或國家的法定假日，至少在你的生意穩定后，在你能自主管理自己的時間之前你都要和這些假期告別。

    6.You have to be able to deal with uncertainty.

    你要有處理變動的能力

    As a self-employed entrepreneur, there's no guarantee that the products orservices you offer will be in demand six months from now. There's noguarantee that your customers will pay their bills on time or even paythem at all. There's no guarantee that your current big client, whoseems to be perfectly happy with your work, won't drop you next week.There's actually no guarantee that you will make any income this monthor the month after. For many ex-employees who are used to having a paycheque arrive regularly every two weeks, the uncertainty of beingself-employed is very difficult to deal with.

    作為一名創業的企業家，不能保證你提供的產品或服務在接下來的六個月里就會有市場需求。也沒有誰能保證你的顧客會按時付款或付全款。也沒有誰可以保證現在對你的工作非常滿意的大客戶不會在下個星期就不和你做生意了。實際上沒有任何人能保證你能在本月或下個月賺到錢。對很曾是雇員的企業家來說，之前每隔兩個星期都會定期有支票進賬，而現在創業的不穩定就會變得很難處理了。

    Are you still asking, "How do I start a business?" Good!Because the point of this article is not to scare you off, but to makeyou aware of how you have to readjust your thinking to make the transition from employee to self-employed business owner. Hopefully asyou read through this list of traits you need to become successfullyself-employed, you were saying to yourself, "I can do this". Because every one of the traits I've listed here is an attitude or behaviorthat can be learned, and when it comes to being self-employed,awareness is more than half the battle.

    現在，你是否仍然在問"我該怎么開始創業呢？"那好，因為本文的本意并非想嚇跑你，而是提醒你應該要調整好從雇員到創業這樣的轉變。希望你在讀完之后，能夠對自己說"我可以做到這些".因為這篇文章中列出的每一條特征都是可以學習的態度或行為，并且，說到創業的時候，全面的認知是戰斗的一大部分。