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Beware: Entrepreneurial Employees
If you thought it was the competition that you should worry about, you may be wrong. The exact strengths that helped you leave the rat race may become the controversial factor that causes one of your employees to leave the company and start up their own — within your niche.
According to SmartCompany, a new survey of 500 people by StartupSmart indicates that business owners need to keep an eye out for three types of employees: those who seek a new challenge, believe they’re better than the boss, and have always had a desire to launch their own business. The survey also indicates that potential entrepreneurs are better prepared to make that leap.
Just under half believe they have the savings to support their business, 53% say they’ve got the marketing skills to get their business off the ground and almost 60% say they know how the launch a website (which puts them a fair way ahead of the pack, based on yesterday’s news that 65% of companies don’t have a site).
Now, I can almost hear the seasoned entrepreneur out there saying “those wannabes don’t know what they are getting into”. And it’s true – entrepreneurs in the stages of planning a business to tend to underestimate things like the amount of capital needed to get a business of the ground, the enormity of the marketing effort required and the complexity of web strategy.
But employers should realise this is not a movement of young start-up entrepreneurs setting out with no more than a business plan and some dreams – these are seasoned professionals with high levels of industry knowledge, a strong understanding of what it takes to get a business of the ground and an appreciation that savings are required to sustain a entrepreneur in the early days.
Photo by Kevin Dooley
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Octopuss on February 17th, 2011 11:28 am
It can also depend on your treatment of your employees.
If, as an employee, you are underpaid with little insentive to stay with that business and feel under valued, then chances are you’ll take the opportunity to create your own business. This happened to me, in fact – I had worked for the same company for four years, very dedicated and knew the area well. However, my employer didn’t have a clue how to look after employees. I remained on the minimum wage with no sick pay, no holiday pay, and the moment that I asked for these things, my employer cut my hours. In fact, I even had to remind my employer when the minimum wage changed, because they had ‘forgotten’. I have now started a similar business, but have been careful not to tread on the prevous company’s toes. I can happily say that the business has off to a flying start.
So it works both ways – if an employee doesn’t feel valued and is taken advantage of, then they are more likely to leave and do it their way to ‘do it right’. I will be employing staff soon, and I will be careful to ensure that they are paid what they deserve and are fully supported as they should be. So I would encourage employers to look after their staff and make sure they are treated as they should be.
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