Entrepreneur – a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
This is the definition of Entrepreneur from http://dictionary.reference.com
Personally, I disagree with the definition. What I would say is that the definition is correct except for one major mistake. I do not believe that an entrepreneur usually manages an enterprise. As a matter of fact, one of the characteristics of an entrepreneur is that he usually loses interest when it is time to manage a business.
In the training I have had in entrepreneurism, I have learned that an entrepreneur loves the thrill of developing an idea into a business, he enjoys going through the rough times that it takes to get a business going. Once he has built a business that is running smoothly and making money, the entrepreneur becomes bored. At this point, his choices usually come down to either selling the business or hiring somebody else to manage it. If the entrepreneur keeps managing the business himself, he often runs the business into the ground, just based on the fact that he has lost interest and has a hard time concentrating on the business to keep it afloat.
I am an entrepreneur. I am most certainly a person who loses interest in running a business while starting something new is something that I am always interested in. If for no other reason, the challenge of making a business succeed thrills me. I have several businesses now that have enjoyed tremendous success, and for the life of me, I cannot make myself get too involved in these businesses anymore, because they bore me to death. They still make nice money for me, but I don’t find it a challenge to keep them going. I have employees that virtually run these businesses for me now.
The other day, I was browsing the web and visited a personal development blog that I enjoy, which is written by Steve Olson. Steve had an article entitled “Learning entrepreneurship, education, family balance, a small business from the experts“. Now, I like Steve Olson, I feel that he is a very smart man, and he writes some interesting and informative pieces on his site. However, I have to disagree with him on this one. I do not believe it is possible to learn how to be an entrepreneur. Yes, you can learn how to be a better entrepreneur, if you already are one. However, I believe that you are either born as an entrepreneur, or you are not. If you are not born one, you will never be an entrepreneur. That’s just the way it is. It’s like if you turn out on 5’2”, you probably will never be able to play in the NBA, it’s just a fact that you can’t change. Same situation with being an entrepreneur.
What do you think? How about you, are you an entrepreneur?
Bob,
Thanks for the link up and the discussion. I disagree, I think entrepreneurship can be learned. I don’t buy the notion that leaders are born, I believe they are made, sometimes by crisis and tragedy and how they react to it, other times they made from the inside out through personal transformation. Are some people born with innate skill sets and mind sets that serve the entrepreneurial path better? Yes, absolutely! Do some people suffer from mindsets that prevent them from having any chance of succeeding at entrepreneurship? Yes, no doubt about it. Can people born wired for entrepreneurship spend their lives mired in jobs? Yes, if they don’t understand who they are and how to harness their inner gifts. I think some of them end up depressed and suicidal. Many of them were brainwashed in school and at home. Can someone with a non-entrepreneur mindset change into a entrepreneurial mindset? Yes, but it takes work, tremendous willingness to learn, and humility.
I really appreciate this post, it gave me a great idea for a new post…
Hi Steve Olson – Thank you so much for your comment. I’ve been reading your site for a long time, and it’s nice to know that you have visited mine as well.
I strongly believe that a person cannot be taught to be an entrepreneur, so we have a basic disagreement on that. However, what I do believe is that a person can be taught to be more entrepreneurial, so that brings us closer together.
I don’t have any problem with disagreeing, though… it makes the world more interesting, and provokes thought in all of us.
Thanks again for visiting, Steve.
Bob,
Yes,
Disagreement is good. When you don’t have it… Things get… Unbalanced.
Thank you for reading.
Hi Steve Olson – Absolutely! Disagreement is a good thing! 😯
Bob,
Steve has some good points. Yea, I believe you can mold an entrepreneur. But, at the same time you are right in a person having to be born with a certain kind of mind set. You can make a leader. But, a truly great leader is born.
Hi Mike K. – Nice to hear from you, Mike. I can agree that an entrepreneur is born, but others can be molded to become more entrepreneurial.
Hi Bob,I agree with your definetion, entrepreneur’s generally make poor manager’s. Maybe thats why i have had my share of failures and success’s.For most of my working life it was the sheer excitement and challenge of starting a business or turning around an ailing one that inspired me,many times to the detriment of my personal life.The same can be said of Salesmen.Good Salesmen rarely make good managers and vice versa,regards Chas.
Hi Chas – Thanks for visiting! Yes, one thing is for sure in business… anybody who is successful has also had plenty of setbacks too! I know that I have, no doubt.