10 Reasons entrepreneurs should consider a real job first…

In my day job, I work in the creative industry, working in post production on films and commercials, where we breathe life into creatures, and remove things from the set that shouldn’t have been there, along with loads of other things. All very interesting and fun work (with long hours though). But I also have a brief background in business, so I might tend to see some things from a different perspective than people who have only been exposed to the creative side of things.

There are loads of companies in these fields, big and small, though compared to most other industries they are probably all quite small. Ever so often, it appears that a new post production facility, ad agency, pr-agency or the likes pop up somewhere in the world, which is great for competition and diversity. But I have started to notice something about many of these. Mainly that the ones who succeed well and do so rather quickly, are formed by people with a background from other businesses in the industry. Many of the ones that are created by a few individuals who might have some experience working as freelancers or one-man shops, tend to struggle, not growing beyond a certain success, or growing mindlessly until they implode.

So, in analysing this, not very academically to be honest, I have come up with what I think is a plausible explanation, and one that might not be very popular in this day and age of overnight success stories of huge companies growing out of a high school dorm room.

It seems that while there are fringe cases where the circumstances or the individuals allow for skipping it, most people do need to crawl before they can walk, or even run. I don’t want to idolise the huge companies that are doing what they have always been doing in the way they have always been doing it, but they do present some huge learnings for people who want to start on their own. But like anything else, it should be taken with your eyes open and mind flexible.

So, why do I advocate people working at ‘a real company’ (yeah, i know) before venturing out on their own?

1. Learn the ropes

This one is obvious, but also often overlooked. When you just start out in an industry, or any endeavour I guess, you tend to be jaded by not knowing what you don’t know. It seems horribly simple to just get the work done, not getting caught up in details concerning silly stuff like keeping you cash flow healthy, preparing contracts, estimating revisions, planning… all the boring stuff, you just want to create. But when you work for an established company, you start to fathom that there are things going on to support the creation of whatever you are creating. You start to learn how to connect with clients, how to fulfil their requests, and how to look at the whole package that goes into delivering what you deliver.

There is bound to be someone who has to get something done before you can get your stuff done, and someone waiting for you to finish. You have to learn to accept the clients as your patrons, who will actually end up owning and paying for what you do, so you need to keep them in the loop. There are so many small things you can start to take notice of.

2. Create a track record

In any industry, getting the first job or first order, is usually the hardest. So you need a proven track record, and getting that while on somebody else’s payroll can be extremely efficient. You will most likely quickly work on something amazing, or at least punching above your weight, proving yourself through that. You get a chance to prove yourself and quickly grow to get more responsibility so that the part you play is bigger and bigger and when you at some point go it alone, you can honestly say that you played an important part in creating that product.

Don’t just take a job for six months, work small parts of something amazing, and then run out and take credit for the whole thing.

3. Create a network

People buy into people much more than products or company logos. I know a bunch of people who have gone out to be freelancers after spending years doing excellent work. When clients hear this, they still love the person, and will go to them. More often than not, when these people decide to go it alone, the most common reaction will be something along the lines of “wow, great idea, I’m surprised you didn’t do this earlier”. If these people keep doing great work, they’re probably golden.

Even if you don’t want to spend a decade somewhere else, at least spend time networking. Your life will be so much easier if you have a network of potential clients and partners who will vouch for you, and pick up when you call. You have already earned their trust. I’m not saying that you should steal clients from your employer though. This might or might not happen, but it shouldn’t be the goal. Your goal is to be the person that these people refer others to, or when that sales manager you’ve created a great relationship with, goes out and sets up shop for himself, you will be his first call.

4. Learn the basics

Like stated in the first point, you can learn a lot about what is going on under the hood, while working at a company. You need to learn and understand many of these things. You need to pick up how a job or product is landed, negotiated, planned, executed, delivered, revised, invoiced… the whole thing. And with loads of steps in each of those. Where do we get approvals, what takes forever to do and what is just a walk in the park, what about contracts and payment terms? And it’s not just the business and pipeline part. Who plays a part in the actual production?

Notice these things, but also be flexible about not taking all of them for the absolute truth in how things should be done. If you find a way to innovate some of these steps, you might want to take them up with your bosses, and see what they think. Be willing to share, and you will be rewarded by more responsibility and insight, and maybe you can be allowed to implement some of these things, while still under the support of the company. That’s a true learning experience.

You should also be open and engaged in as many aspects as possible, of the business, so you have more places to learn from, and test your ideas. Again, I’m not saying you should act like a spy and gain insight you shouldn’t, but you should learn, and you should give back. There is something to be said about natural reciprocity and decency in how you act, that will somehow always come back to you in the long run. 

5. Learn to budget.

This is always one of those touchy things when starting out. A client approaches you and you have to bid a job…. But what should you budget? For novices, it’s tempting to break down things and come up with an overly optimistic offer, not accounting for the fact that you have to spend time in meetings and on emails, or that the client might not like your first version of what you have been doing, or that you have to put some money in the bank for rent, wages, electricity, insurance etc.

That also means that you need to be able to create a budget for your operations. How much money will you have to spend on IT? oh, people need desks, the computers need a network switch, coffee machine? What’s a realistic budget? What if your clients don’t pay on time?

These are probably some of the most important insights you can get, and you should really try to get them as early on as you can. You cant just see what other companies are spending and copy that, but try and notice how much goes into keeping an organization running. If you can find a way to save on that, all the better, but it should be by choice, not by oversight.

6.Learn from all parts of the business, from sales to management to…

Just re-iterating, there are so many moving parts. Learn from them! Take what you need and discard the rest. You might see the value in a book keeper, but not need one off the bat, so find another solution… maybe something online that does most of the work, or a freelancer by the hour. You’ll realise that managers are busy, since there are contracts to be dealt with, prices to negotiate, clients to handle, and staff to handle as well. Sales is probably working all the time, but sometimes it looks as though the jobs just pop into their emails… is that the case or have they done years of work getting to that? Do they spend time networking and staying top of mind with potential clients?

What other roles do you see doing vital, but maybe non-billable work? Will you need some of these when you go it alone? Can you do something in a smarter way? Will the whole thing fall apart if you dismiss some of these roles?

To a worm in cabbage, the world is cabbage…. So step out of your silo and see the big picture that allows the company to function.

7. Planning and production

This is where we get to executing the work. Depending on what you do, you will most likely have a certain view of this. I used to hate producers, they wanted me to log every hour I spend on something, and they would set what seemed like arbitrary deadlines and expect me to give loads of feedback, and estimate things that we did not really know what would turn out to be… they were the enemy (ok, I’m making it sound worse than reality, but trying to paint a picture). But as it turns out… logging your hours makes it easier to run the business and budget realistically so you can go home on time and be paid your worth… planning well makes life easier. Dealing with the client in the right way makes for a huge difference. The same goes for how you work with the different parts of production. Do you spend all your time trying to get one thing just right while others are waiting for you, or is there a way to give them something to work with that makes sense early on? Can we do something simple that shows the client we are on the right track? All these things are immensely important. So again, step out of your silo and look at the big picture, learning every bit you can.

8. Learn from others’ mistakes

While sucking up all the learnings you can, you are bound to make some discoveries about things that could be different. You should let your boss know about these things; you might learn a thing or two in that conversation. But the important thing is that you are learning from others mistakes. This is not meant as in letting that ship sink, but it is always easier to observe mistakes and the likes when you are not tied up in it. Did the company spend too much or too little on IT? How about the folder structure? Could the delivery process be optimised? Are some types of clients just not worth it? LEARN! OBSERVE! and take note, not seeing it as the truth of how things should or shouldn’t be, but keep it in your mind when facing similar issues in your own venture.

9. Then pull it all a part and do something epic

Now, after some time, months, years, decades… who knows, you feel ready to go it alone (or with a partner etc., but you get the point). Take all that you have learned, and pull it apart. Boil it down, trim the fat, focus the effort… all those things that make you an agile and updated version of business as others think it should be. The point here, is that you should not just copy/paste what you saw, and you should not just start from your own silo. If you have done well, you know the ropes, you know people, people know you, you know what you need to do, and what you can do better. You can estimate your costs of running the business, you know what you need to get going, you know if you need that huge leased laser printer or just something cheap… Has technology evolved enough that you can change things drastically? This is often very hard for larger companies as they have invested resources in ‘the old way’, so that could be one of your selling points? Pull it all apart, take the parts for what they are, and put it together again, discarding what is no longer needed, and adding what you have always missed. Don’t be jaded by having worked at a large company, and don’t be blind by not having learned from others. Then, go do something epic, eyes wide open.

10. Or maybe not?

I recently got around to listening to Seth Godin’s Startup School podcast, which is in no small way epic. The first episode has mention of something that I never before realised how important it was to look at. It’s the question of wether you are an entrepreneur or a freelancer. A freelancer sells his or her own time for money, while an entrepreneur will hire people or develop a product that can be sold. Way to often the founders of a company will tend to actually be of a freelance mindset. This results in the CEO insisting on flipping all the burgers himself, not trusting others to do it, or maybe even because he wants to keep doing the executing part of the job instead of running a company. But what happens if the CEO is flipping the burgers… the rest of the kitchen and the whole restaurant is left without leadership and without any idea of what is going on; and maybe worse, everyone else, who has been hired, will have a feeling that they are not trusted enough to do the work.

You should REALLY spend some time figuring out if you are one or the other. And there is absolutely no shame in either, but you set yourself up for hard times if you are playing the wrong role. Could it be that having learned what you have learned over the last few years or so, and behaving well, sharing your ideas and working hard… you have set yourself up for something different? A leadership role? A consultant role? 

I am not trying to say that starting up your own shop is a bad idea, but you should really evaluate if you are cut out for one or the other. I have seen and heard of enough places that are run by people who should have been freelancers (maybe even as a collective) but have taken upon themselves to try and lead others, resulting in insecure and lacking leadership, where neither the employees or the ‘leaders’ are happy, or at least living their full potential.

An important thing to note!

When you decide to take a job at a company, don’t just do it to steal/ be a spy. Don’t hide your ideas and innovations, but share them. Be a great employee, and strive to be the best you can. Be honest and helpful. Honesty and decency, as well as clear and open communication will pay dividends, and you never really know the end game before you are there… 

It could sound like I advocate that you should take advantage of your employer, and that is far from the case! If you do well, you will advance quickly and be of great value to your employer, who will in turn be of great value to you. Try not to go into it thinking that you just need to suck the company dry from knowledge and then start your own. Do it for the work, the company, the experience, and enjoy it, while having that little voice in the back of your head that one day, you want to create your own… not today, not tomorrow, but someday… and until then, enjoy the work. Oh, and maybe that day is today? Let me know …