Three Reasons People Begin Businesses

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Great Resignation.”

Simply put, we’re in a period of time when more people are leaving their jobs to start their own businesses than at any other time in recent memory. The Great Resignation was ignited by the devastation of businesses, and subsequent mass layoffs and closings, caused by the pandemic. Not only were people unwillingly forced out of their jobs, but people also began to think more deeply about other aspects of their work, personal, and financial life.

I believe there are three main reasons people leave their jobs and make an attempt at beginning their own businesses.

They are forced into exile and need to eat.

I’ve been there three times over my years in the troubled and failing print media industry, the result of wave after wave of position eliminations, consolidations, and ownership or leadership changes. Millions faced this during the pandemic. One day, often without warning, you are called into the Human Resources office and told that your services are no longer needed, and to clean out your desk or office.

The paycheck is gone, but we still need to feed ourselves and our families, pay our bills, and avoid things like eviction, foreclosure, and repossession.

This is a time when many people think seriously about that business idea they’ve been carrying around, maybe for years, and wonder if now is the time to take control of their work and finances, and never be in a position to be forced into employment exile again.

They need a prison break from a toxic environment.

I’ve spent most of my corporate years in toxic environments. You know, workplaces where you’re used and abused by your superiors, trampled upon by others trying to get ahead of you, tasked with achieving impossible goals setting you up for failure, or maybe even forced into engaging in unethical practices, just to keep your job.

A person can only remain healthy themselves for so long in environments such as these. When you’re in these environments it’s easy to daydream about how green the grass actually is on the other side of the fence, any fence, any pasture but this one!

You know you’re capable of so much more, would be so much happier, and might actually be able to live and enjoy the life you deserve if you could just make a prison break, finally introduce your business idea to the world, and come back to life again.

They were born to do it.

Maybe you’ve met some of these people. They are the ones who, early on in life, dove headlong into businesses of their own, and appear to be living the dream while solving problems, making the world a better place, and living the high life while doing it. They would never even consider working for someone else, because they could never be happier than they are as the captain of their own destiny.

A lot of these folks have never been imprisoned in toxic work environments created and fueled by and filled with other toxic people. But there are also a lot of you who have been born to do that thing you’ve been dreaming about, but for various reasons, have never given it a go until you were forced into exile, or had to make that prison break.

Whichever is true of your situation, here are three questions to ask about your business idea.

Did it come from your soul, or from your desperation?

Sometimes we think to ourselves, “I’ll do anything to keep my bills paid, or escape from what I’m doing.” And when you’re in that state of mind, it’s very easy to find something, anything, to make money, in a different environment, even when you have no interest in, passion for, or enjoyment from the new work you’ve decided to do. You didn’t change your life. You just transferred to another prison.

Instead, take some time to become reacquainted with yourself, your true self, not the bruised and battered self that’s scared, has taken over, and has shoved the dreamer into a corner. Remember why you’re here. You knew when you were a kid! And I promise, if you approach this correctly, you’ll find yourself doing work you love, either in your own business, or partnered with someone else’s business, and every day you can wake up knowing you’re doing the work you were meant to do.

Does it solve a problem and improve the world?

There are a lot of problems in the world to solve. Some are small problems right there in your corner of the world. Some are global problems that affect all of humanity. And there are unlimited problems, or opportunities to improve the world, between those two ends of the spectrum.

Every successful business solves a problem, or improves the world. Your business idea will never spark and catch fire if it’s simply something you like to do, but nobody else needs or wants. But the paradox, as spoken by Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, is that sometimes people don’t know what they need or want until you show it to them. You’re reading this on one of those things right now.

If you believe in your soul that your business idea will solve a problem, or improve the world in some small or large way, even when nobody else does, go for it! And go for it with passion. Believe in yourself, and your idea, even when nobody else does…yet.

Does it have the potential to evolve?

Blockbuster Video. The most well-known name in the history of the video rental industry. It doesn’t exist anymore. Though they did evolve their business model from VHS cassette rentals to DVD rentals, they scoffed at Netflix when it began in 1997. Blockbuster, with all of the overhead of their brick and mortar locations, simply could not evolve further into home delivery of movies, first through the mail and then via streaming. Netflix became king, later followed by Amazon Prime, and a vast array of other streaming services.

Your business will have to be a resilient, able to change and evolve, to survive long-term. It’s okay if you don’t see how that evolution will unfold now, nobody ever does, but if you are able to see down the road a bit, you’re in a great position to start.

Even if the business idea in your soul now doesn’t have long-term potential, it is by no means a waste of time or energy! Why? Because of one simple sentence that is the core belief of the Quantum Business Community.

“The moment you prove to yourself that you can earn income without a boss, you become invincible.”

Once you’ve taken that big, courageous, heroic leap to make your business idea a reality, it changes something inside of you. A fountain of ideas is turned on. Ideas to grow and evolve your current business. Ideas for new businesses. Ideas for other ways to solve problems and change the world. Ideas that can prevent you from ever having to surrender your life, work, financial well-being, and happiness to a corporation, a boss, or a toxic environment, ever again!