Entrepreneurship for our Generation

“What it takes to be an entrepreneur and why now is the best time to become one.”

By Jeff Fritz

It’s scary out there. Graduating from university, students would hope to whatever belief system they holds dear that they’ll be able to land a job within their chosen profession, to finally start their adult lives in earnest. “But what if that doesn’t happen?” they might wonder. “What are my options?”

For many soon-to-be-graduates, the answer to this existential query is weighing more and more on their collective minds. And even with the economy crawling out of a recession, finding work—any work—remains a bloodsport. They will be competing with thousands of other new graduates and hundreds of thousands of other adult professionals for the jobs they want.

Pile on to this the fact that since the 1980s, since the rise of globalization, cost cutting trends have changed the rules of the game. Specifically, such movements as downsizing (reducing organizational size either through the number of employees or the number or breadth of departments); delayering (restructuring the organization to possess fewer levels of bureaucracy); outsourcing (getting rid of organizational functions to instead purchase them from external specialists); and casualization of work (part-time, flex-time, temp work, volunteer, etc) have led to a complete shift in how most view the concept of work.

Summarizing this shift, Professor Jon Kerr, a lecturer and coordinator of the management area in the School of Administrative Studies in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, stated, “The employment environment today is fundamentally different than the environment 30, 40, 50 years ago. The idea of getting out of university, getting into one stream of work and staying in that work until retirement, those days are long gone.”

Options?

For some, taking action, taking command of one’s life to create one’s own opportunities feels like a welcome refuge from the thought of having to rely on the whims of external employers. This mindset is entrepreneurship at its heart and many young professionals are viewing this profession/lifestyle as a viable option upon graduation.

One such individual is Moshe Lokshin, President of the Entrepreneurship Society at York. Growing up in Israel, Moshe developed a strong background in computers, so much so that at 17 he decided to start his own business. To his surprise (and a great deal of luck he adds), his business, M.n.B. Computers Ltd, grew over three years to generate annual sales of approximately 3.5 million Shekels (750,000 CAN).

Sitting down with him, we discussed the lifestyle of the entrepreneur. Sure it provides the satisfaction of striking it out on your own and, if you’re successful, a great deal of wealth, but is it for everybody?

Moshe grinned. Then with a Russian accent confessed, “(When I first started out) I had to sacrifice—initially it was a girlfriend, then friends, my high school grades were lower, all the things that I didn’t know how to balance with my business, how to manage into my schedule.”

“You see, for entrepreneurs, you have to do everything, because usually when you first start out, you don’t have the capital to hire anybody. … Those things, how to manage your time, you’re not born with them. It takes time to learn.”

In the end though, Moshe confirmed that, for him, the pros outweighed the cons. “Entrepreneurship is my life.”

The conversation then shifted to the qualities a young professional needs to succeed as an entrepreneur. “Generally, I would say (you need to) have dedication, persistence, discipline, adaptiveness and awareness. Things are always changing in the market place. You have to be prepared for uncertain situations.