I have been thinking about entrepreneurial venture(s) in case my job search does not pan out. To be frank, I am not very excited about looking for another job, a job with a big "J" because I have done that for the past 12 years and I have not been very thrilled about it. I have found that it is very hard to get excited about a job, even if it is intellectually stimulating research when you are laboring to achieve other people's goals or being a part of some else's agenda. You lose your identity to borrow Orwell's phrase. At my firm, I have seen older and supposedly more successful folks, and told myself if I wanted to kill myself to be like them in 20 years? The answer has been resounding no. I want make a contribution however small rather than being just a part of a process.
Given my current family cirucmstances, I will be looking for a job, unfortunately. But I have made up my mind that either that job leads to a satisfying career or I am out doing something else. I am not going to waste time, like I did 10 years at my previous firm waiting to be sacrificed. This experience has really opened up my eyes.
Ideally I would like to manage money. Although I have the intellectual capacity to do, I do not have the track record to solicit money. Nobody will give me money.
The second option is to start really really small. Start with a high cash flow business and leverage that cash flow to become a "private investor". This is what Warrent Buffet did (his cash flow source is insurance) or what Ed Lampert of ESL tried using the cash flow from K-mart & Sears (unfortunately he caught in the consumer de-leveraging in the US). In terms of the cash flow business, I feel that gas stations are the possibilities.
So I gave some thoughts to gas station business. I don't know much about it but what I know is that volume is the critical factor in the business. Unforunately, the trend towards alternative energy plus the move towards fuel efficient cars is likely to reduce gasoline consumption going forward. So there has to be consolidation in the industry which does not make it attractive unless you are the consolidator. Again, like any business everything depends on price and location.
I am not sure why I am thinking this way but I am certainly thinking. I do want to find an innovative cash flow business that does not require too much oversight.
