Succeeding in Your Business by Cliff Ennico

Members of the Class of 2009: I was sorry to hear that the children's TV show host who was to have been your commencement speaker today had to bow out at the last minute due to an attack of terminal cuteness. I was delighted, however, when the trustees called me about an hour ago and asked me to fill in.

Now, I've never done this before, and I wasn't given a whole lot of guidance, except that I was told to tell you to "follow your dreams" and "reach for the stars," since there's a federal law requiring those statements to be included in all graduation speeches [pause for laughter].

While I know some of you already have jobs and some, OK most of you, do not, I know that all of you are wondering today what your lives are going to be like. I know I did when I sat in one of these chairs back in 1975. Let me tell you something — it's going to be a lot different than you think it will be. As John Lennon once said, "life is what happens to you when you're making other plans."

I have two pieces of news for you, and neither of them are fun to talk about, but I feel they must be said, and no better time than today. First, whatever dreams most of you hope to accomplish in your lives, you won't be able to achieve them until you have achieved some measure of financial security for yourself and your loved ones. Like many generations before you, unless you were born wealthy (and sometimes even then), finding and keeping that financial security will be the primary, if not the only, thing you will spend time on for the next 50 years.

It gets worse. The second thing is that it has never been a more difficult time to make a decent living in America. I'm not just talking about the collapsing banks, bankrupt auto companies or global warming. I'm talking about some mega-changes in our economy.

Many of the career paths your parents and grandparents enjoyed working for large corporations are no longer there. Oh, many of the corporations are still there, but they've got a different outlook than they did in my day. To them, people cost money, and you have to keep your costs as low as possible to stay alive. So if you can buy computers to do the work of lots of people, you buy the computers and fire the people. If you must hire people to do a job, because no computer is good enough, you hire the cheapest people you can in Asia and Latin America. And if you really must hire Americans, you "outsource" them as independent contractors rather than employees. That way you don't have to pay their health insurance.

The government won't be there to bail you out either. Social Security, Medicare and other government programs that helped your parents and grandparents either won't be there when you are ready for them, or they will be so scaled back that only the most poverty-stricken Americans will qualify for them. Hopefully that won't include any of you [pause for murmuring/dodge vegetables].

And if you think you can scale back your expectations and work in a small, simple business, there's a massive wave of immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America who are only too willing to take the jobs we Americans are too proud to take.

The terrible truth about your future, ladies and gentlemen, is that there is only one person you can rely on to help you build your future and success, and that is you.

Sooner or later, you will find yourself running your own business, and you had better start preparing for that day now. It may happen next year, it may not happen until you turn 50. It may be a part-time business.

Many of you, I'm sorry to say, are totally unprepared for the challenge. While the American educational system is still, for my money, the best in the world, the sad truth is that most of you are totally clueless about what business is about. Far, far too many of you, including even a few Phi Beta Kappas and Rhodes Scholars, don't know the difference between revenue and profits, can't balance your checkbook, and couldn't tell the difference between a balance sheet and an income statement if your life depended on it. To be successful in this brave new world, you will have to learn how business really works on the job, with lots of self-study, practical experience and by making a few mistakes.

Now before you business students start thinking you have a leg up over your liberal arts classmates, let me tell you that your education has been grossly deficient as well. You know a lot about numbers and spreadsheets, but you don't know diddly about the human heart. Make no mistake — to be a success in business, you must be a keen observer of human nature above all else. To know which customers are more willing to buy than others, and when perceptions of your products and services are changing, is a lot more valuable to a business than knowing the difference between "accounting profit" and "economic profit."

What is probably worst of all, many of the best and brightest of you have a dim view of business, period. Like many before you, you think you are too good for a business career, or that one has to be unethical, greedy and unscrupulous to be a success. Sadly, it's hard to blame you for that, given all of the recent financial scandals, grossly overpaid executives and business's total disregard for the environment. But let me assure you that you don't have to be ruthless, obnoxious, devious or even Republican to succeed in business [pause for laughter/applause].

For those of you who think a business career isn't challenging, let me remind you that any activity that generates income for you and your family is a business. If you are a college professor, getting published and being granted tenure is your business. If you work for a corporation, staying employed and impressing the right people every day is your business. If you are an artist, creating works that you know will sell quickly (and preferably have been paid for in advance) is your business. While it's admirable to look at what you do as a calling, if you neglect the "business side" of what you do, you are taking the first baby steps to failure and ruin.

I have had the pleasure of working with over 15,000 business owners in my career, and they are a more diverse group even than you are. They come from all walks of life and backgrounds, and their personalities are all over the map. Contrary to what you may believe now, there is no such thing as a "success type". The beauty of this wonderful country of ours is that anyone — I mean anyone — can succeed in business with the right training, the right outlook on life, and the determination to do what others are too squeamish or hesitant to accomplish.

So by all means reach for the stars and follow your dreams, for without faith, hope and passion your business will never succeed, even if you're as smart as Einstein.

Just whatever you do, don't run out of money.

Cliff Ennico (cennico@legalcareer.com) is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS television series "Money Hunt." This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO.

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