I Lost My Job! Should I Start a Business

    我丢了自己的工作，我该创业吗？

    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?"

    我收到很多邮件，开头都是说"我丢了工作",然后在邮件中，他们就会开始问"我是否应该自己创业？"

    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，终止了合同关系或者就是简单地被开除了。并且，由于当今经济形势不景气，找到一份新工作很难。在你找不到工作或不能忍受自己工作的时候，创业听起来很有吸引力。

    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.

    但是如果你正处在这样的情况下，那么"我该如何开始创业呢？"不是你最初开始该问的问题。你最该问的第一个问题是"我是否应该创业？"在你开始思考自己该发展什么类型的事业之前，你要先想想自己的情况。

    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.

    并不是每个人都适合创业的。创业比打工难得多。有一部分人发现很难适应这些差距。让我们来看看你是否有准备单干必备的企业心态。如果你想从给别人打工到自我创业成功转型的话，那么我推荐以下六个你必须具备的思考方式和行动方式的特征。

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

    自我创业你必须要有灵活性

    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.

    如果你开始创业，你的工作就不是职责定义明确的一份工作和责任了。你会在突然间有了多份工作，也会被不可预见的危机中断创业（尤其是在起始阶段）.很多打工者习惯了每天按照既定的进程工作，而创业者则不行。

    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，一旦你开始创业后，就没有地方让你推卸责任。作为一名打工者，你或许习惯在食物链内推卸责任，或不涉及做出决策的工作。但是，作为一名创业的企业主，你是必须要处理危机，解决困难的人。你也是做出决策的人。

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

    你必须是一名善于自我激励的人。

    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.

    当你是员工的时候，别人会直接或间接地告诉你该做什么。你习惯了在别人的指导下行动。但是作为小企业家你必须指导自己的行动。你不能只坐在那里，幻想着有客户会自动上门，有人会下订单将你零售商店的库存都买走。没人会将工作放在你面前，为你指出哪些事情是必须做的。对于大部分习惯了长时间的全职工作，突然想自主创业的人来说，这是最难跨越的一个难关。

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

    你要有发现机会，抓住机会的能力。

    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.

    大多数员工都是做着分配给自己的任务。也有人在分配的任务中寻找机会，也许是一家小企业的老板，也许是一家大公司的销售部门或管理团队成员。如果你开始了创业，你就要成为经常寻求机遇的人，并且在你碰到机遇的时候有能力分辨。也许是像接待客户这样的小机会，也许是在一家大型连锁超市销售你的产品这样的大机遇，但是，作为一个小企业家来说，你必须随时注意自己的周围，并让自己从发现的机遇中获利。作为一名员工，你可能习惯于被领导的位置。如果你打算开始创业并取得成功的话，你就要开始习惯处在领导别人的地位。当老板和做员工有很大的不同，这个过渡会很困难。

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

    创业以后，你要能够提前定好计划

    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.

    或许你的上一份工作不需要任何计划，因为制定计划是其他人的事情。又或许你的工作只包括了限定水平的计划，比如为一个特定项目制定计划。如果你想自主创业，你就要专门开发自己制作长期计划和短期计划的能力。这将会占据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.

    在开始创业后，你的第一个任务就是制作一份商业计划。在你的事业开始运作后，你会发现这份计划需要修改，为了使你的事业朝着你指定的长远目标发展，你还需要制定其他的计划。当员工的时候照着别人的计划行事，你要从中学会如何自己制定计划，并学会用这些计划来改变环境。

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

    你要准备好持续，连贯的努力

    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.

    我们都看到很多员工只是走走过场，或者只努力到退休前为止。即使你不是他们的同事而是客户，你也知道有这样的人存在。坦白说，创业需要能量，你需要付出100%的努力。如果你在经营事业的话，你不能只是走走过场而已。你的客户，顾客需要知道你尽了自己100%的才能和技巧去吸引他们，如果这些不起作用的话，你也愿意做其他的尝试。

    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，你要在没有员工安全网的情况下付出这样的持续，连贯的努力。很多员工都习惯装病，或让别人帮忙掩盖他们的工作。但是作为一名创业的企业家，你要坚持下去，不管你感觉如何都要尽自己最大的努力，也不能因为找不到替你的员工就关门休息。你也要对很多雇员喜欢的假期告别了，不管是每年几周的假期或国家的法定假日，至少在你的生意稳定后，在你能自主管理自己的时间之前你都要和这些假期告别。

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

    你要有处理变动的能力

    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.

    作为一名创业的企业家，不能保证你提供的产品或服务在接下来的六个月里就会有市场需求。也没有谁能保证你的顾客会按时付款或付全款。也没有谁可以保证现在对你的工作非常满意的大客户不会在下个星期就不和你做生意了。实际上没有任何人能保证你能在本月或下个月赚到钱。对很曾是雇员的企业家来说，之前每隔两个星期都会定期有支票进账，而现在创业的不稳定就会变得很难处理了。

    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.

    现在，你是否仍然在问"我该怎么开始创业呢？"那好，因为本文的本意并非想吓跑你，而是提醒你应该要调整好从雇员到创业这样的转变。希望你在读完之后，能够对自己说"我可以做到这些".因为这篇文章中列出的每一条特征都是可以学习的态度或行为，并且，说到创业的时候，全面的认知是战斗的一大部分。