Signs of Danger - Excuses for Pay...

Entrepreneurs have an uncanny ability to make people feel very sorry for them. They play the victim with fervor and allow everyone around them to understand the true extent of their plight...especially people who are willing to hear them out.

I have consistently been one of those that would listen to the pitch and would then resell it in an operational setting. This is the entrepreneur's favorite move, get someone to listen, convince that person that they should sell the dream, and then disassociate from the process.

In almost every small business/start-up/entrepreneurial environment I entered, the interview always ended the same way..."as you know, we are small,start-up,etc so we cannot pay a lot, but when we go big, you are going to be well taken care of." This sounds reasonable and in industry, it is most often referred to as shared risk. What is often not well understood, especially by the Entrepreneur, is that the risk of those who accept this line is extremely high.

I know it is hard to believe, but not many of us are proverbial "plank-owners" from Google, sitting on a fortune looking for something to do. Most, if not all, are looking for careers and a way to feed our families. All too often, I experienced Entrepreneurs who believed that they were the only people who were sacrificing and even when they did accept the notion of shared sacrifice, they rationalized that theirs was somehow greater.

Rules to Live By (whether looking to work for a start-up or currently employed):
1. You are the absolute greatest asset that the Entrepreneur has. Without you and your talents, they cannot (more than likely), succeed in what they are doing.
2. If an Entrepreneur states that they cannot pay you at market rate, it is incumbent upon you to demand compensation outside of salary, they will never make you whole otherwise.
3. If you are going in to a trusted relationship of truly shared risk make sure that the Entrepreneur understands that and agrees. I would go as far as to say that you should demand an employment contract to avoid the fickle ways of Entrepreneurs.
4. Never, ever, take the Entrepreneur's word that you will get your pay day. Ask to see the books and understand how you are going to get there. If you cannot play a role in actively selling/developing the marketplace, you are trusting this person to do it.

It is always a lot more fun to believe that you are getting in on the ground floor of the next Apple or Google, but the reality is that most ventures will fail, protect yourself and do not get too tied up in the hype.

They act like a bunch of kindergarteners...we could only hope!

Robert Fulghum's book, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten", is a masterpiece in oversimplification of life and life lessons. Being an eternal pragmatist, I find extreme comfort in anyone who can aid my search to boil down an explanation to simple parts.

I have always been intrigued by what I can only describe as a complete disregard for practical interpretation on the part of entrepreneurs. Granted, if every entrepreneur were highly pragmatic and looked at life and business from the perspective of yes/no, right/wrong, success/failure, etc, we probably would not have very many new ventures. Even when presented with extreme facts, there is an ability, on the part of almost every entrepreneur, to disregard and evaluate under their own terms.

The problem is that they do not always follow the rules, the simple inalienable truths that Fulghum so brilliantly captured in his book:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

For those of you who have worked for Entrepreneurs, there are few bullets from this list that we can point to as consistently followed by them. I do wonder if it is this string of omissions could perhaps be the common points of interest in an uncommon group of people? If that is true, then perhaps these individuals just did not pay attention in kindergarten and actually prove Fulghum's points even further?

A lot more study is required to determine the cause of this, but one thing is for sure, we are all better number 2's if we can adhere to these principles and bring them to light for our little kindergarteners...