I Lost My Job! Should I Start a Business

　　我丢了自己的工作，我该创业吗？

　　I get a lot of email that starts, "I just lost my job!" Somewhere in eachemail, the writer goes on to ask, "How do I start a business?"

　　我收到很多邮件，开头都是说“我丢了工作”，然后在邮件中，他们就会开始问“我是否应该自己创业？”

　　Morepeople are getting downsized, terminated or just plain fired all thetime. And because of the state of the economy, finding another job canbe difficult. Creating a job of your own by starting a business looksattractive when you can't find a job - or just can't stand the job youhave。

　　很多人都被裁掉了，终止了合同关系或者就是简单地被开除了。并且，由于当今经济形势不景气，找到一份新工作很难。在你找不到工作或不能忍受自己工作的时候，创业听起来很有吸引力。

　　But"How do I start a business?" is not the first question you should beasking if you're in this situation; the first question you should beasking is "Should I start a business?" Before you start thinking aboutthe different types of businesses you might start, you have to do somethinking about you。

　　但是如果你正处在这样的情况下，那么“我该如何开始创业呢？”不是你最初开始该问的问题。你最该问的第一个问题是“我是否应该创业？”在你开始思考自己该发展什么类型的事业之前，你要先想想自己的情况。

　　Startinga business is not for everyone. Being self-employed is very differentthan being an employee. And some people find it impossible to adjust tothe differences. Let's see if you have the necessary entrepreneurial mindset to become self-employed. These are the six traits that I think encapsulate the ways you have to think and behave if youwant to make a successful transition from being employed in some oneelse's business to starting a business of your own。

　　并不是每个人都适合创业的。创业比打工难得多。有一部分人发现很难适应这些差距。让我们来看看你是否有准备单干必备的企业心态。如果你想从给别人打工到自我创业成功转型的话，那么我推荐以下六个你必须具备的思考方式和行动方式的特征。

　　1.You have to be flexible to be self-employed。

　　自我创业你必须要有灵活性

　　If you start a business, you no longer have "one" job with clearly definedduties and responsibilities. You'll suddenly have multiple jobs, whichwill be often interrupted by unforeseen crises (particularly in thestartup phase). Many employees are used to having days filled withpredictable activities; many self-employed people don't。

　　如果你开始创业，你的工作就不是职责定义明确的一份工作和责任了。你会在突然间有了多份工作，也会被不可预见的危机中断创业(尤其是在起始阶段)。很多打工者习惯了每天按照既定的进程工作，而创业者则不行。

　　Andonce you start a business, there's nowhere to pass the buck. As an employee, you may be used to passing problems up along the food chain or not be very involved in decision making. As a self-employed business owner, you're the one who will have to deal with whatever the crisis isand solve the problem. You're the one who will have to make the decisions。

　　而且，一旦你开始创业后，就没有地方让你推卸责任。作为一名打工者，你或许习惯在食物链内推卸责任，或不涉及做出决策的工作。但是，作为一名创业的企业主，你是必须要处理危机，解决困难的人。你也是做出决策的人。

　　2.You have to be a self-motivated initiator。

　　你必须是一名善于自我激励的人。

　　When you're an employee, other people tell you what to do, either directlyor indirectly. You get used to having your actions directed by others.But you have to direct your own actions as a small business owner. Youcan't just sit there and hope that maybe some clients stroll in or thatsomeone will drop by out of the blue with inventory for your retailstore. No one's going to drop work on your desk or point out what needs to be done. For many people who try to become self-employed and start businesses after having a long-term full-time job, this is the hardest adjustment to make。

　　当你是员工的时候，别人会直接或间接地告诉你该做什么。你习惯了在别人的指导下行动。但是作为小企业家你必须指导自己的行动。你不能只坐在那里，幻想着有客户会自动上门，有人会下订单将你零售商店的库存都买走。没人会将工作放在你面前，为你指出哪些事情是必须做的。对于大部分习惯了长时间的全职工作，突然想自主创业的人来说，这是最难跨越的一个难关。

　　3.You have to be able to recognize opportunities and go after them。

　　你要有发现机会，抓住机会的能力。

　　Mostemployees do what they're assigned to do. There's someone else who's"assigned" to look out for opportunities, either a boss in a smallbusiness, or perhaps a sales department or a managerial team in a largecorporation. If you start a business, you need to be the one constantlywatching for opportunities - and be able to recognize them when you seethem. It might be a small opportunity, such as the chance to pick up anew client, or a large one, such as getting your product on the shelvesin a large retail chain, but as a small business owner, you have tokeep scanning the horizon yourself and positioning yourself to benefitfrom the opportunities that you find. As an employee, you may be usedto operating in a "head-down" position; if you're going to start abusiness and become successfully self-employed, you need to startoperating in the "head-up" position。

　　Being self-employed is very different than being an employee and can be a difficult transition。

　　大多数员工都是做着分配给自己的任务。也有人在分配的任务中寻找机会，也许是一家小企业的老板，也许是一家大公司的销售部门或管理团队成员。如果你开始了创业，你就要成为经常寻求机遇的人，并且在你碰到机遇的时候有能力分辨。也许是像接待客户这样的小机会，也许是在一家大型连锁超市销售你的产品这样的大机遇，但是，作为一个小企业家来说，你必须随时注意自己的周围，并让自己从发现的机遇中获利。作为一名员工，你可能习惯于被领导的位置。如果你打算开始创业并取得成功的话，你就要开始习惯处在领导别人的地位。当老板和做员工有很大的不同，这个过渡会很困难。