5 reasons today’s entrepreneurs are taking the plunge

(Editor’s note: Clate Mask is the co-founder and CEO of software company Infusionsoft. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)

If you took the time to sit down and sift through the US Census Bureau data, you’d see that over the past few years, entrepreneurs are starting new businesses at an unprecedented rate.  Consistently, the number of existing businesses at the end of the year has increased by between 500,000 and 1million.

That means that before subtracting out the number of startups that fail, the gross number of new businesses started is actually much higher than 1 million per year.  And that’s in the U.S. alone.

Why are entrepreneurs starting new businesses in record numbers?  The first chapter of my new book, Conquer the Chaos, makes the case we’re in an “Entrepreneurial Revolution” and it’s happening due to five big reasons.

Corporate disillusionment.  Downsizing, outsourcing overseas, pension scandals and general corporate irresponsibility have left employees disillusioned and embittered.  The antiquated notion of going to college, getting a job and becoming a “lifer” was the ideal of the baby boomer generation.

Today’s worker holds no such ideal.  The old notion of getting a stable job with a big company has eroded, leaving many workers to feel the security of a corporate job is not so secure after all.

A technology power shift.  The Internet has changed everything.  You no longer need a bricks-and-mortar shop on which to hang out your shingle.  With your product or service, a quick website, some online advertising and an email marketing program to keep your followers apprised of your activity, you’ve got the makings of a start-up business.

All the research you need is at your fingertips.  And you can compete effectively with long-established businesses.  The Internet has simply torn down the barriers to entry and now entrepreneurs are able to jump into the game without amassing a small fortune before they get started.

The promise of overnight success. As aspiring entrepreneurs look around, they see friends, acquaintances, high school rivals and even past (less-savvy?) co-workers making it on their own.  Of course, they don’t typically see the blood, sweat and tears that went into the successful venture because that’s not human nature.

Instead, human nature sees what looks like an overnight success story—and that is a seductive siren call to the disillusioned corporate worker who’s constantly thinking, “If Bob can do it….”

An expanding work force.  Speaking of those baby boomers, many of them are entering the ranks of entrepreneurship.  The Kauffmann Foundation has done a bunch of research on entrepreneurs and, interestingly, their research shows a large contingent of first-time business owners are between middle age and the golden years.

It makes sense: Baby boomers now have a longer life expectancy, they frequently have a nest egg they’ve accumulated over the years, they’ve finished their “career” and they want to try their hand at an entrepreneurial venture they’ve always dreamed about.

The recession.  This is a biggie that’s been driving a lot of entrepreneurial activity over the last couple years.  Unfortunately, we don’t yet have the Census Bureau data on this period of time, but I’m willing to bet it will show an increase in the number of businesses started.

My daily experiences tell me this is true.  My company works with entrepreneurs and we see droves of people who’ve been forced into entrepreneurship.  They lose their job, get a severance package, take a little time to think about what’s next… and then commonly start a consulting practice or some sort of solopreneurship.  And frankly, I believe this is a great thing for our economy—to have more entrepreneurs out there creating value, filling in voids in the marketplace, conjuring up new products and services that just might become the next big thing when the market turns around.

Sure, this new breed of entrepreneurs will take their lumps and it won’t be as easy as they thought, but many will find their freedom. And that freedom is the one thing every entrepreneur seeks: freedom in terms of more money, more time, more control over their lives and more purpose in their work.  I love seeing entrepreneurs take the plunge in pursuit of their freedom.  And I believe it’s exactly what this country needs to break out of a sluggish economy.

Photo by hufse via Flickr

Next Story: Helios Interactive snares indie game developers with cross-platform GameCore tools
Previous Story: Roundup: Flying car gets green light, Google gets busted for antitrust, and more

Tags: starting new business

People: Jerry Buhlmann