Ever thought of starting your own business?

Did you know that most people, at some time in their life, have an idea that could form the basis for establishing their own business? This is well known fact. But few people chose to do so. What happens that most of them do not break from wishful thinking to starting their own business?

What is needed is a trigger to spur them into action, to turn the idea into reality. These triggers can take the form of ‘push’ or ‘pull’ factors.

The Push Factors

Push factors are those that push people into self-employment. This factors may take the forms of – unemployment or forced redundancy, disagreement with your boss, being a ‘misfit’ and not feeling comfortable in an organisation for some reason, or simply having no alternative because, for example, you have a physical disability or illness. These are very strong motivations for self-employment, but not necessarily to grow your business. Worse still, unemployment as a strong push factor may indicate a higher probability that the business will have a short life span.

The Pull Factors

A growth in business is far more likely to be established because of the positive motivation or pull factors – the need for independence, achievement and recognition, personal development and wealth. Sometimes the factors combine and an entrepreneur emerges with a positive motivation, for example, to make a success of an innovative idea, having felt a ‘misfit’ in their old organisation.

All too often these triggers are blocked by other factors – the need for regular income, a family to support, no capital or a doubt about your own ability. These all boil down to two things – insufficient self-confidence and an inability to cope with high risk and uncertainty. Without these key ingredients the business will not get past the ideas stage.

In the next few weeks we will now look into detail about pull and push factors and make a conclusion on how they play in the life of the most successful entrepreneurs.

Have a reflective life. Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com or on Facebook Jeremiaho Wakamu to keep this discussion going. And again referrals though you social media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this blog.