Does having a business mean you’re an entrepreneur? Is it making money?
What can someone do so that they can be labeled as entrepreneur or become an entrepreneur?
Doing a simple google research for the meaning of “entrepreneur” will give you this:
An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.
So we established that an entrepreneur is someone that builds a business and invest his or her money, taking on the risk of loss in hopes of making a profit in return.
That’s great and it’s accurate, but in this blog I don’t want to talk about the definition of the word, I want to talk about the mindset, the experience and the whole journey.
Disclaimer: This blog post is based on MY point of view and how I see it from my own thoughts, not backed by any data or extensive experience, it’s what I THINK. Let’s start.
From the beginning I want to say that I think entrepreneurship is NOT a job title, it’s a mindset and a way of living, you don’t reach a certain goal or do a specific thing and be like oh i can call myself an entrepreneur now. It’s how a person lives his life, how he takes decisions, the priorities, everything…
There are millions of ways one person can be an entrepreneur, but one thing is common is that everyone worked HARD to achieve what they did, they always think what’s in it for the people/consumer in everything they do, everyone is only about the long term game not short term small wins, and all of them are doing it because it’s what they LOVE!
But recently, entrepreneurship has been labeled as the “cool” thing. Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, everyone wants to make millions of dollars sipping Pina Coladas from a pineapple on a beach in Peru (That’s how they think entrepreneurship is)
It has been labeled like that because of the over amplification of its perks by “social media gurus” always showing off the cars, the money, the branded clothe which is usually is all rented specifically for the shoot or to create that idea.
I’m here to say something:
Is working 16 hours a day cool?
Is always being the firefighter in everything you do cool?
Always being accountable for your actions and having NO ONE to blame when you lose cool?
Then why the hell people consider entrepreneurship “cool”?
If I want to build a “business” and be a true entrepreneur, I know that I’m entering a world where, to compete, I have to work 10x the amount I have ever worked in my life and the thing is, I LOVE it!
This is where the turning point is, people want the glam and the fame and the money, but don’t want to work for it or even some go into entrepreneurship because they think it’s cool but at the end of the day, they cannot work 14 15 16 hours, they want to play Xbox instead and that’s totally fine, this is where self-awareness comes into place.
I heard Gary vee say something in a video once which goes like this: A lot of people go into entrepreneurship and want to become the #1 in a company because it’s cool, but in reality, they would make more money and be way happier being a #2 or a #3 in a company.
THAT is everything!
To wrap it up, I think entrepreneurship is born within but can also be built and shaped based on your life experiences and the surroundings you are raised and spend the time in whether it’s your family or your friends!
Want to know how I knew I was an entrepreneur?
When I used to sell my used toys to my friends in the streets back when I was a kid…
When I was invested almost 700$ (which was all I had) into my drophipping store because I wanted to try it back when I was 17 in school making only 200$ a month from my part-time job (It failed)
When I quit my bartending job not having a backup job or money saved up just because I wanted to experiment going full time on freelancing.
When I quit my full time job with good stable income while Lebanon is going through the worst economic crisis and people are not finding jobs let alone quitting ones just because I want to start building my first business.
I might fail next month or in the next 5 months but I’m much happier failing at something I love knowing I took the risk of trying to do it rather than wondering what if.
I hope you enjoyed this one and it helped you a bit with who you are!
If you enjoyed it make sure to share it on Twitter or Facebook and let me know what you think!
Thank you, Kamal Nehme
