亲爱的安妮：我是一名应届毕业生。虽然有一家大公司（经过多轮面试）给我提供了一份工作，但我真的很想自己创业。过去的两年中，我通过网上销售手工首饰，赚了点儿“小钱”，而且生意也一直不错。所以，我觉得，如果我全职做这个的话，肯定会有很好的前景。

    我的有利条件是，我没有助学贷款要还，而且我的花费也很少，因为在创业期间，我可以跟父母住在一起。但另一方面，我爸妈一直催促我找一份“真正的工作”，因为，在他们看来，刚毕业就创业，这是个疯狂的想法。您和读者们有什么看法呢？——玛丽•安

    亲爱的玛丽•安：我绝不会反对你的父母，尤其因为，他们实际上是不想让你经历那种痛苦和失望。

    卡罗尔•罗斯表示：“‘马克•扎克伯格们’让创业看起来轻而易举，但残酷的事实是，10家创业公司中，有9家在最初五年内就垮掉了。” 卡罗尔•罗斯是芝加哥的一位商务策划师，她曾帮助创业公司客户融资超过10亿美元。罗斯的作品《企业家公式：创业者的现实、风险与回报评估》（The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks and Rewards of Having Your Own Business）一书曾登上过《纽约时报》（New York Times）的畅销书榜单。

    罗斯认为，在决定你的发展方向之前，你需要认真、诚实地审视一下促使你去创业的动力。她发现，在所有想要创业的人当中（不仅仅是应届毕业生），太多人的目的是“希望能赚大钱，摆脱公司的压榨，或者能有更少的工作时间，和更多的自由时间。”

    这些理由都不可能带来成功。那什么才是成功的动力呢？罗斯表示：“如果你致力于解决客户的问题或满足他们的需求，相信自己能比其他任何人做得都要优秀，并且，你渴望长时间工作、身兼数职，和应付无穷无尽的责任，那你的创业态度就是正确的。”

    而苏珊•斯宾塞认为，除此之外，你还需要具备一些性格特质。其中一条是，你要乐于承受一个人辛苦工作的艰辛，至少在创业的第一年里（可能会更长）。

    斯宾塞是一位律师，也是费城老鹰队（Philadelphia Eagles）的前任总经理和股东，另外，斯宾塞创办了两家生意兴隆的公司，并著有《公文包里的那点东西》（Briefcase Essentials）一书。她表示：“许多创业青年之所以会失败，是因为他们雇佣了员工，而这就意味着，他们很快就得面临日常开支。在开始的时候，你面临的财务压力越小，就越有可能取得成功。”

    但这么做的不利影响在于：“一天十个小时，甚至更长的时间，都是你自己在做所有的事情——销售、记账、支付账单等等。你会很孤独，你需要有非凡的动力和决心。这并不是所有人都能做到。”

    看到上面的分析，你确定还要义无反顾地进行创业吗？如果你不再想马上创业，卡罗尔•罗斯的这条建议或许会让你满意：在你想要创业的行业中，先找一份工作，并通过这份工作，学习“如何管理供应商关系、如何销售产品、如何处理客户关系，以及如何详细地记账等。”

    在你吸收这些实践知识的同时，你可以利用业余时间，继续在线销售首饰，也就是罗斯所说的“兴趣型职业”——介于业余爱好与工作之间——“你既可以获得报酬，又可以仔细研究你的创业计划的可行性。”

    但是，如果你决定马上就开始创业，而不是先获得更多经验，然后再慢慢开始，那么明智的做法应该是，向与你一样初出茅庐的公司老板们寻求建议和支持。罗斯为你推荐了一个全国性组织——青年创业者理事会（Young Entrepreneur Council），该组织可以“为有志于创业的应届毕业生们提供有效的帮助。”

    苏珊•斯宾塞认为，你也可以向经验丰富的创业导师寻求帮助。她建议：“找一些成功的企业家，把他们作为你的非正式顾问委员会。他们可以对你的点子提出很好的意见。而且，他们还可以帮助你的企业更快地发展，比如他们可以把你介绍给银行。”

    斯宾塞指出，要想创业，职业发展初期是很好的时机。原因很多，而最主要的一点是，你现在的风险承受能力是最强的（特别是你没有助学贷款要还，而且你的生活开支很少）。

    她说：“年轻人，在你还没有负担贷款或抚养孩子的压力之前，拿出你的最佳状态吧。只要你进行创业的时候足够谨慎和努力，你肯定不会后悔的。”

    斯宾塞表示，这在一定程度上是因为，“如果你以后决定改变发展方向，想给别人打工，曾经的创业经历将成为你的垫脚石。”

    “我曾经聘用过许多有过创业经历的人。创业可以让你接受商业教育。而这是通过其他方式无法获得的。”

    Dear Annie: I'm a brand new college graduate and, although I have one job offer from a big company (after interviewing with many), I'd really rather work for myself. For the past couple of years, I've been earning "mad money" by selling handmade jewelry online, and it's been going well enough that I think it would really take off if I do it full-time.

    On the plus side, I have no student loans to pay off and my expenses are minimal because I can live with my parents while I build the business. On the other hand, my mom and dad are urging me to take the "real job" because, according to them, starting a business right out of school is crazy. What do you and your readers think? — Mary Ann

    Dear Mary Ann: Far be it from me to contradict your parents, particularly since they're evidently trying to spare you what could be a painful disappointment.

    "The Mark Zuckerbergs of the world make startups look easy, but the cold hard facts are that 9 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first five years," notes Carol Roth, a Chicago-based business strategist who has helped her startup clients raise over $1 billion in capital. Roth also wrote a New York Times bestseller, The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks and Rewards of Having Your Own Business.

    Before you make up your mind about which way to go, Roth says, take a hard, honest look at your motivation for starting a company. Too many entrepreneurial wannabes of all ages (not just new grads) are "looking to get rich, escape the corporate grind, and work shorter hours with more free time," she observes.

    None of those reasons is likely to lead to success. What will? Says Roth, "If you're focused on solving a customer problem or need, believe you can do what you do better than anyone else, and you're dying to work long hours, wear many hats, and juggle endless responsibilities, you have the right startup mindset."

    According to Susan Spencer, you also need certain personality traits. One of them is a willingness to work very hard all by yourself, at least for the first year or so (and possibly longer).

    An attorney and former general manager and part owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, Spencer also launched two thriving businesses and wrote a book called Briefcase Essentials. "Many young entrepreneurs fail because they take on employees, which means overhead, too quickly. The less financial pressure you put on yourself at the outset, the more likely you are to succeed," she says.

    The downside: "Doing everything yourself -- selling, keeping the books, paying the bills, and so on -- for 10 or more hours a day is a lonely existence, and it takes extraordinary drive and determination. It's not for everyone."

    With that in mind, are you sure you want to leap in head first? If not, Carol Roth has a suggestion that might please both you and your folks: Get a job in the industry where you eventually want to establish your business as a way to learn "how to manage vendor relationships, market your product, deal with customers, and keep detailed books."

    While you're soaking up all that real-world knowledge, you can continue to sell jewelry online in your spare time, doing what Roth calls a "jobbie" -- a cross between a hobby and a job -- that "lets you explore how viable it really is while getting paid by someone else."

    If, however, you're determined to start your own business right now, without easing into it by getting more experience first, you'd be smart to reach out to a network of fellow fledgling business owners for advice and support. Roth recommends a nationwide group called the Young Entrepreneur Council, which "offers good tools for recent grads looking to create a startup."

    You can also seek out more seasoned mentors, Susan Spencer says. "Find a few successful entrepreneurs to be your informal advisory board," she suggests. "They can be a great sounding board for your ideas. They can also help your business grow faster by, for instance, introducing you to bankers."

    Spencer points out that this very early stage in your career could be a good moment to start a business, for a couple of reasons. First, your tolerance for risk is greater now than it may ever be again (especially given that you have no student loans and minimal living expenses).

    "Before you take on responsibilities like a mortgage and kids, give this your best shot," she says. "As long as you're going into it with your eyes wide open, you are unlikely to regret it."

    That's partly because having run your own show "can be a stepping stone to a great job if you decide to change direction later on and go to work for someone else," Spencer notes.

    "I've always hired people who had started their own companies. It gives you a kind of business education that you can't get in any other way."