| Being a spare room entrepreneur is more than | | | | |
| just a way of making a living, it is a way of | | | | Of course, we need to compromise; we can't |
| living your life. | | | | expect always to be doing what we love. |
| | | | Striving for balance in our lives is a |
| It isn't an easy way to live. In the past, | | | | never-ending challenge. Most of us discover |
| being in business independently was the norm, | | | | that we must establish clear boundaries |
| and people typically worked and lived in the | | | | between our personal lives and our careers in |
| same place. That isn't the case today, when | | | | order to preserve our health, our families, |
| most people are employees. Everyone from the | | | | and our sanity. Nevertheless, even those who |
| tax collector to our mothers would understand | | | | draw that line most distinctly still view |
| us better if we would just go out and get a | | | | their businesses as embodiments of their |
| job. | | | | personal talents and values. |
| | | | |
| Moreover, many of us who choose independence | | | | It is true that there are also many employees |
| make the further decision to stay small. This | | | | who hope that their work will utilize their |
| contradicts a popular conception of | | | | talents and enable them to have a lasting and |
| entrepreneurship, which holds that everyone | | | | positive impact on the world. In general, |
| wants to run a big business and get rich. If | | | | though, our culture doesn't support such |
| you want to be a spare room entrepreneur, | | | | aspirations. We are encouraged to view our |
| then, get ready to bemisunderstood. | | | | paycheck as full recompense for our labors, |
| | | | while personal satisfaction is to be found in |
| When I talk about spare room entrepreneurs, I | | | | our private lives, which will be made more |
| often find myself describing what we aren't. | | | | elaborate, exciting and fulfilling by all |
| We aren't unemployed. We aren't between jobs. | | | | that money can buy. |
| We don't loll around all day in our pajamas. | | | | |
| We aren't failing just because we're not | | | | During an airplane flight, I read an article |
| taking on new employees and tripling our | | | | in a business magazine. It argued that seeing |
| business each year. We aren't idle just | | | | your business as an outgrowth of yourself is |
| because we're home, nor, by contrast, are we | | | | a sickness. The article said that we should |
| workaholics just because our home lives and | | | | view our businesses solely as ways to make a |
| our productive lives frequently overlap. | | | | lot of money as quickly as we can. Then we |
| | | | should use that money to live the lives we |
| It is more difficult, given that spare room | | | | want. For some this might be relaxation on a |
| entrepreneurs are so disparate and represent | | | | small tropical island, but it could also mean |
| so many different, strongly held views, to | | | | writing a novel, engaging in philanthropy, |
| make a positive statement of what we are. | | | | living a life of prayer and contemplation, or |
| | | | playing the stock market. |
| My interviewing convinces me, however, that | | | | |
| we do have some important common | | | | This argument is attractive because it |
| characteristics. One is that we are | | | | identifies entrepreneurship with the core |
| impatient. We want to do what we want to do | | | | beliefs of our society about getting and |
| when we want to do it, without waiting for | | | | spending. Moreover, it feeds into our |
| someone else to give us permission. And while | | | | fantasies of riches and freedom. It implies |
| anxieties and insecurities are our frequent | | | | that fabulous wealth is lying around for the |
| companions, we have a very high estimation of | | | | taking, available to all. I know I'd love to |
| our own abilities. We're people who don't | | | | have enough money to realize all my dreams, |
| exactly fit in, and are proud not to. We may | | | | and so would the rest of the people in this |
| make our own mistakes sometimes, but we | | | | world. |
| despise making somebody else's. Most of us | | | | |
| recall, even as children, having an | | | | But I also understand enough about the |
| independent streak and all the troubles and | | | | culture I live in to know that I would then |
| rewards that such a personality can bring. | | | | begin to have more expensive dreams, and that |
| And while I haven't found any research that | | | | I'd have to keep laboring to realize those. |
| backs this up, many of us come from families | | | | I'd never be able to disentangle the price of |
| with members who were in business for | | | | my material indulgences from my value as a |
| themselves. | | | | person. |
| | | | |
| What are we looking for is money, naturally, | | | | Our lives consist not just in how we spend |
| but we shouldn't be too quick to accept that | | | | our money but also, and probably more |
| as the only answer. For all the people in | | | | crucially, in what we do to earn it. Our work |
| this book, business is more than making | | | | is the way in which we have an impact on our |
| money. It is how they express themselves in | | | | place and our times. We express ourselves in |
| the world. They can't say that what they do | | | | the world through our work. You can't simply |
| is just a job--because it is not just a job. | | | | avert your eyes from what you do and still be |
| | | | the sort of person you want to be. You can't |
| What we are looking for, I think, is | | | | just buy a good life. You have to live a good |
| integrity. We are seeking to integrate all | | | | life. And though many of us might shy away |
| our interests, talents, personality, and | | | | from such grand pronouncements, living a good |
| character into a way of life that expresses | | | | life is what most spare room entrepreneurs |
| who we are. | | | | are trying to do. |