Reader mail: Going into business for yourself

Seems last week's article from Alan Zell, "Going Into Business for Yourself: The Ultimate Business Oxymoron", really struck a chord with some of my readers:

I really appreciated your latest article about "Going Into Business for Yourself: The Ultimate Business Oxymoron."

Having been full-time self-employed in B2B sales or promotional advertising since 1987, I agree with you 100%. If I didn't have hundreds of "employers" who require my assistance, talents, and products, I'd be out of work.

On the bright side, I can only be fired, demoted, or laid-off by one of those employers at a time.

The next time you ask an audience to spell entrepreneur you might want to spell it this way afterwards - Risk taker!

I wouldn't trade my business for any job in the world, including yours. I am where I belong in business today, being a small fish in a medium size pond, serving local & regional clients face-to-face, with some expansion onto the internet, serving large and small clients across the US.

One question - what happened to the About.com forums that I used to enjoy and respond to? I have to assume they have been discontinued and that I was asleep when they did away with them.

I participate in at least 6 different business boards and forums on a regular basis, where I tend to get long-winded as I am here.

I'll cut this short, and just say thanks for all the information and advice you have offered through your newsletter over the years.

Sincerely,

Dennis Bevers
Cutting Edge Advertising

Thanks for your note, Dennis. You are so right about risk-taking. Very rare is the highly successful entrepreneur who played it safe. I just read recently about how Sequoia Software founders Mark Wesker and Anil Sethi maxed out their credit cards, made withdrawals from their 401(k) plans and put their houses up for collateral to keep the company afloat. Ten years after they started their business in their basements, they sold Sequoia to Citrix Systems for $184.5 million in cash.

Entrepreneurship is not for the risk-averse. I'll be running an article this week about risk-taking and entrepreneurship, so good timing for your comments!

Regarding the About.com forums -- yes, they're still there, and we've missed you! Come be as long-winded as you want. The About Entrepreneurs Forums are at http://entrepreneurs.about.com/mpboards.htm. You can find a link to the forum for any Guide Site just under our picture at the top left of every page. Real-time chat has gone away for most sites, except the handful that had really active chat rooms, but since you said "forum", I'm assuming you're referring to the discussion boards.

Thanks again for your note. Watch for the upcoming article on risk-taking.

- Scott -