Kenneth A. Kessler On Being an Entrepreneur [Entrepreneurism]

In the 1980s, American industry began downsizing to meet global competition. One of the first victims of this change was the notion that working for a large corporation offered long~term job security. About the same time, studies were published showing that most of this country's new jobs were being created by rapidly growing small companies. The combination of these two developments helped to glamorize people who started new businesses. In the late 1980s, entrepreneurship began to be seen as a tonic to restore the vitality of the nation's economy. Entrepreneurs were seen, not as Mao's "run~ ning dogs of capitalism," but as the cultural heroes of the 90s. Those of us whose formative experience was in the 1960s could not help but

wonder what a difference a couple of decades can make. Social trendiness, however, is not a good reason to start a business. The journey is too strenuous and the road too long for one to choose to be an entrepreneur simply because it's in fashion.