A Sense of Urgency Will Do You Just Fine

Having a business during college is very different than having one after it. Below are some of the differences I've noticed:

1. Before I felt ahead of the pack. Now with friends working at prestigious firms and making up to six figures, the tables are turned on some levels.

2. You have to pay for health insurance and it's not cheap. You will probably pay somewhere between $200 and $500 a month if you go on your own plan.
   
   
3. You take the risk of being "unemployable" for many traditional firms. Essentially, if I were to keep on this path for the next 5 years and an traditional employer were to look at my resume, they would run the other way and look at me as somebody they couldn't manage. At the same time, I may have more opportunity with smaller firms related to my industry of expertise that I already have contacts with. I've seen this "unemployable" risk mitigated by other twenty-something entrepreneurs by getting advanced degrees.

4. In the back of my mind, I'm fearing not being financially secure by the time I want to have children. Even farther back, I'm thinking about horror stories of people who've worked in their business for 40 years, but who weren't able to save money for a pension and who led stressful lives for a small business that never took off.

5. I'm realizing the value of micro-enterprise loans and SBA-backed loans.

6. All of the points above add up to one positive that outweighs all the negatives in my mind. I now have a new sense of urgency, which is forcing me to confront and drop negative habits. I think the progress I've made as a young executive over the past few months probably equals the growth of the past few years. That's probably an exagerration, but that' what it feels like.