As a kid I didn’t know that you could become an entrepreneur. The word didn’t enter my vocabulary until I was much older. If I’d have known it, I would’ve probably adopted the term earlier.
It is a beautiful world, comparable with adventurer and researcher. Somehow it seems to express a certain amount of freedom. The freedom to find out what works and what doesn’t. Being an adventurer doesn’t necessarily specify where the adventure leads to, just that there will be adventure.
An entrepreneur is equally flexible. He or she will accept risk, innovate, lead, and deal with failure. He or she will have to learn and adapt and venture where others haven’t ventured yet. It is an exciting profession. It is also a very stressful and risky profession. I once heard a seasoned entrepreneur explain that the advantage if being an entrepeneur was that you could work whenever you wanted, as long as it was 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Most entrepreneurs don’t end up being rich and famous. Most just end up doing well, and some end up doing… not so well. For years we were taught to look for security, for jobs that lasted, to eliminate risk – but a few stock crashes, the economic crisis and a looming global environmental disaster have told us there is no such thing as a secure job or a low-risk future.
I wonder if that is the reason so many more people are aspiring entrepreneurs now. If there is risk, stress and uncertainty why not deal with it on your own terms? One thing is certain; in a dynamic and changing world, entrepreneurs seem to have a natural advantage. Uncertainty and ever-changing parameters are our natural habitat. The ultimate time to be an entrepreneur is now and I’m happy to be alive at this tumultuous but exciting time.
If you are an entrepreneur I’m sure you share the same feeling. If you aren’t yet, what exactly is holding you back?
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