SOME people who toil discontentedly in corporate cubicles regard entrepreneurship as the cure for all workplace ills. Only when they’ve experienced running a business personally do they find that the reality is much different.
Mike Cleary, for example, left his job as a sales and marketing executive to become an entrepreneur because he was tired of office politics. But after buying a franchise and an existing business about eight years ago, Mr. Cleary sparred with difficult vendors and suppliers. “It seemed very one-sided, with many commitments and obligations on my part, and much less required of the people I was buying from,” he says.
In an effort to establish trust, he says, he extended credit to a client of the previous owner. Unfortunately, he says, the client was not forthcoming with payment, costing him tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
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