Published Article
by Patricia Fry
Business Start-Ups 1999
EMOTIONS IN BUSINESS
Do They Hinder or Help the Start-Up Process?
We like to think that we’re devoid of emotions in our professional
lives—that we make critical decisions with a business head and not a
bleeding heart. The truth is that our emotions follow us wherever we go. In
fact, for most entrepreneurs, both positive and negative emotions become even
more acute during a business start-up.
It’s a rare individual who doesn’t get excited upon landing his
first account or who doesn’t feel the pain of disappointment when the
business suffers a setback. Business is not constant. Like life, it changes.
When those changes correspond with our desires or exceed our expectations,
we’re happy and when they don’t, our emotions take a more negative
turn.
Ann James, founder of AmeriGyn, an OB/GYN physician practice management
company in Houston, likens going into business to being on a roller coaster
ride. “It’s an extremely up and down situation,” says James.
Still in the start-up phase of her business, she describes her demeanor,
“At the core I feel very confident, but on any given day I might wake up
and think, ‘Oh, my God, what am I doing?’ ‘What have I
done?’ Sometimes you have these tremendous fears. They’re not
rational fears. They’re not even fears you can resolve. I think
that’s just part of leaping off into the literal unknown trying to create
a very significant business.”
James left a highly successful and profitable attorney firm to found her
company last July. She describes what many entrepreneurs are up against today.
“What generally happens is, you’ve left something in order to do
something else and that something else is unknown. You know the former systems.
Now, not only do you not know what the systems are, you may not have a system.
“Maybe you’ve been used to the structure of a big corporation
where you’ve had somebody taking care of details. Suddenly you can’t
just say, ‘we need x’ and x appears. Everything is harder now because
you have to think about how to get these things done yourself.”
Starting a business from scratch is like traipsing off into the unknown. And
it’s human nature to fear the unknown.
Sharon D’Orsie admits that the number one emotion she felt when she
started Eagle Environmental Health, Inc., a Houston and New Orleans-based
industrial hygiene and occupational health organization, was fear. She worried,
“What if starting this company turns out to be incredibly stupid?”
She, too, had left a secure position. Although she had extensive knowledge and
background in her field, she admittedly had no practical business experience.
D’Orsie thought long and hard before acting on her burning desire to have
her own business. She says, “I had to examine my value system and ask
myself which is the greater sin, failure or living life by default? For me, it
was the latter. I had to try.”
Those who dare to try their entrepreneurial wings usually find the
experience to be more personally enlightening than they expected.
“My husband warned me that having a business would bring out
every area of weakness I had,” says Andrea Gold, founder of Tucson-based
Gold Stars Speakers Bureau, a company that books speakers for meetings and
events all over the globe. “In fact, fear and anxiety were my constant
companions in the first few years of business. I remember becoming frustrated
because things weren’t happening within my time frame. Looking back, Gold
says, “I consider perseverance one of the most important qualities
necessary to starting and growing a business.”
Gold shares her motivation for sticking with her now thriving business even
through the lean times. “What made me hang in there was my husband’s
support and encouragement and my vision. I also had to ask myself, ‘what
is the alternative?’ I was not ready to work for somebody else again.
I’ve had a very strong entrepreneurial spirit most of my adult life.
Besides, I’m not a quitter.”
Humility is another trait essential to the entrepreneur. According to Mary
Embree, founder of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) a
Ventura, California-based networking organization for creative individuals and
business owners involved in the publishing field, “When you’re
starting a business, you must feel it is more important to succeed than to be
right. You’re bound to be wrong sometimes. To learn from your mistakes,
you have to be able to see them and that takes courage, integrity and
humility.” Embree adds, “These aren’t just character traits,
they’re deep, intense feelings.”
A fledgling business owner may be an expert in the product or service they
offer, but they can’t know everything there is to know about operating a
business from the onset.
Research is key here as is a healthy portion of humility. As Gold points
out, “A business owner has to remain humble and receptive to every
information source available to them.”
Melvin Powers, founder of the highly successful Wilshire Publishing Company
in Los Angeles firmly believes in utilizing available resources. In fact, two
techniques he has found extremely valuable over his 40 years in business is
brain storming and seeking expert advise. He says, “If it isn’t
working you must find out why and take some constructive suggestions from
qualified people. You can’t expect to get that success overnight if you
don’t do your homework.”
Many entrepreneurs admit to often feeling overwhelmed during the start-up
phase of their businesses. Embree, describes her experience. “In the
beginning, there are a lot of ideas being generated which means a lot of work
and a lot of decisions to make. It can certainly be overwhelming at
times.” Embree echoes others when she says, “I find it helps to have
a very clear idea of what you want to do – a plan – but it’s
also important to be flexible. If you aren’t flexible, you’re setting
yourself up to fail.”
What drives these entrepreneurs to forge ahead when so many others would
turn tail and run in the face of such fears and discomfort? According to Don
Hagge, CEO of 3C Semi-Conductor Corporation in Portland, OR, “I think the
underlying characteristic of an entrepreneur is fire in the belly or
passion.”
D’Orsie agrees and advises others, “Do not start a business unless
you have a passion for the subject matter otherwise your life is going to be
hell. The hours and financial demands are so incredible that unless you really
have a passion for what you’re doing, you will have a miserable
life.”
Success in business is not only about money. It’s about enrichment of
life. It’s about the sense of self satisfaction you feel when you’re
following your dream. It’s about facing the negatives in business along
with the positives because you’re doing what you want in life.
Michael Kramm, founder of Capresso, Inc., a two-year old New Jersey-based
company that specializes in producing coffee makers and espresso machines,
offers his perspective. “I think it’s important, before you start a
business, to do some real soul-searching and think about whether you’re
really made for it. Do you really want to get into all that is involved in
business or is it better to go back into the so called safe haven of corporate
business?”
There are disappointments in business. There are setbacks. Despite careful
planning, things don’t always happen when and how you want them to. You
will suffer from feelings of frustration, fear and anxiety. You will sometimes
feel overwhelmed. This is why hundreds of men and women every year give up
their dream of owning a business and go back to the security of the corporate
world. We know why businesses fail but what makes them successful? For Powers
it’s a positive attitude.
Having published over 400 titles, some of them million-copy sellers and
having experienced success in a couple of side business, as well, Powers offers
this, “My attitude is, if there’s a problem, solve the problem.
I’m never frustrated about it. I simply take one step at a time. There are
ups and downs in any business. In a slow period I say, ‘okay it’s
slow, what can I do about it?’ I don’t look at is as a failure.”
While some businessmen and women can turn negative emotions into positive
ones so quickly that they scarcely miss a beat, most of us are quite aware of
the temporary discomfort in feelings of fear, frustration, impatience and so
forth. This is part of loving what you do – being attached to your work.
According to Kramm, “You have to love what you do. I don’t think
you’re really an entrepreneur without emotions.”
While some may still argue that the concept of “emotions in
business” is an oxymoron, it’s obvious by the comments from our
experts that there’s still a lot of heart at the helm of American
enterprise. The fact is that as long as businesses are operated by people,
there will be emotions in business.
Patricia Fry is the author of A Writer’s
Guide to Magazine Articles for Book Promotion and Profit (Matilija Press,
2000).
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