Simon McCann

I have been quiet over the past couple of months so thought I would pop back in to give my final update on progress and review my time in inafishbowl.

It's been a tough couple of months on the job hunt. Employers are reluctant to acknowledge entrepreneurial experience as you don't have specific history of performance in a certain role. You also don't have experience working in the kind of structure that organisations use. They also don't see why you want to leave the start-up world to gain employment. The most common question I was asked was "will you not just leave when you get a new idea?" This is difficult to answer, and even when you do your best to assure them this isn't the case (and at the risk that my new employer reads this - this isn't the case!) they still don't believe you.

It's now been a few weeks since I made the decision to leave entrepreneurship behind and look to enter the "real" world and find a job. This blog post is to give a quick update on how I am fairing.

At first it was difficult for me to decide what areas to look at for future employment. Being an entrepreneur helps you develop a range of skills, but I don't think you master any in a way that a large organisation would want you to. From looking at my experiences I decided that my natural personal skills as well as the skills I have developed from being an entrepreneur lead me to sales and business development, and when you include my university background I also suit finance positions. 

So Simon has taken the very difficult decision to close down Co-Go Coffee. We know it was a tough decision. We greatly admire him for having the courage to accept that the business had run its course and the conviction to deal with this head on.

Simon’s brutally honest and intelligent assessment of the lessons he has learned after 2 years of entrepreneurship should be shared and shouted from the rooftops so that others can learn from his experience and maybe secure a different ending for their business.

Simon’s story is not unique, not by any means. But neither is it complete. Only when we know the impact, Simon’s entrepreneurial venture has, on the next stage of his working life will we have the full story.

Simon is now looking for an employed position. Will his job prospects and earning potential be affected by his entrepreneurial sojourn? How do potential employers view his experience?

We are very good at encouraging entrepreneurship but what happens when it doesn’t work? Are there any downsides?

We don’t know the answers but Inafishbowl has been created to bring you the ‘warts and all’ reality of starting and being in business. This should include the reality of what happens when it doesn’t work out, for whatever reason.

Therefore, we are delighted that Simon has agreed to stay ‘in the bowl’ and share his experiences with us as he embarks on the next chapter.

Best of luck Simon!

@fishbowlwm

A common question is "what have you learnt?" My usual response after 2 years of entrepreneurship is "loads". But if you pushed me on what exactly I would give a very incoherent answer with a few key buzz words to try to sound intelligent. Maybe it's just me, but I very rarely take a step back and try to work out what I have learnt, what I would do differently and if by magic I invented a time machine what advice I would give myself two years ago.

However given the point I’m at now, I’ve decided to take some time to try to consider the question properly and see what I have actually learnt from the past two years.

It's been a while since I've blogged and in this time a lot of decisions have been made.

In January I blogged about the challenges facing the expansion of the coffee business. I said that I was giving myself until mid-February to make a decision, and the Valentines Day shaped hole in my bank account has brought to my attention that the time is upon me.

The decision has been made;