Yesterday I woke up @ 6am to have a free breakfast. It was one of the many, empowered, networking sessions organised for entrepreneurs.

It was supposed to be for about 20 people only but there were at least about 40 of us there.

Not all of these people are ‘full time’ entrepreneurs. Many of them hold a day job and moonlight/ freelance in their own business. It is not surprising that so many want to be their own boss. I guess everyone thinks of making it big on their own.

And entrepreneurs mean anyone who is doing their own thing…. from insurance agents, to freelance designers, to consultants to people who may have have a few thousand people under them like Li Ka Shing.

The lure of being answerable to you, yourself only is surely tempting. Just imagine:
– no more reporting to your boss
– no more preparing reports/ proposals that you boss will either not read or will tear them to pieces
– no more long meetings
– no more office politics
– no more trying to reach sales target
– no more jostling with the thousands of people on the way to work

That’s what all my friends say to me enviously.

Nearly 7 years after being on my own, I can only say this:
– no more reporting to your boss, but you report to your customers
– no more preparing proposals that will go unread by bosses, instead they will go unread by your customers
– no more long meetings, but you also end up with less ideas and no one to blame for projects gone wrong
– no more office politics but that also means no one to speak to (unless you want to call in to radio stations)
– AND no sales means no income

Many of my friends are now GM, VP or hold some high profile positions. They are earning more than me too. Sigh… My namecard doesn’t have any position. If I could, I will probably put this down:

CEO/ Sales Manager/ Receptionist/ Office lady/ Deliveryman

In short, a PKL OWO…
A Pow-ke-liao, One-Woman-Operation

But it would be misleading to say I’m regretting everthing now.

I still enjoy what I do….and I do get to do things that I want to do only. There are aspects of my life that I woundn’t give up now. Perhaps one day I will be a billionaire like Bill Gates or Li Ka Shing… though I seriously doubt it. But I can always dream right?

Now excuse me whilst I have my cup of tea in the balcony.