“People don’t start businesses because they want to, I explained. They start businesses because they have to–either for economic reasons or because they just can’t bear to work for anybody else.” This was a quote from a recent article Should MBA’s start their own businesses?

Could it be that people don’t start businesses because they want to but instead because they “have” to?

What About Economic Reasons

No doubt this is a very big contributing factor.  Its something that can motivate many people to branch out on their own.  That motivation can either come by choice or by force. The problem with entrepreneurial endeavors being solely an economic one is that when then economics just aren’t there then you will need something else to sustain you through the hard times.

When your working and working and you just aren’t seeing the monetary results you will need to be able to fall back on something to keep you going.  The question is what is that something?

What About Working For Yourself

Again this is another good idea in concept but one that fails to address reality.  Nobody truly works for themselves.  You have a partner, you answer to him. You get a loan, you answer to the banks.  You sell something, you answer to customers.  The notion that you will work for yourself as an entrepreneur just isnt reality.

You want to work for yourself, become an artist.  You want to be an entrepreneur, prepare to work for someone.

What About The Other Reasons

Don’t you want to start a business?  Not because you have to, but because you really want to?  Being passionate about something and using that passion to start a business is more often than not the main reason entrepreneurs do what they do. There’s other reasons to, such as the challenge of trying something new, helping others, leaving a legacy and more.

What about you, what reasons have you or do you want to start a business?