Why entrepreneurs need to find their ‘inner clown’

Boris is the wise ol’ CEO of TNW who writes a weekly column on everything about being an entrepreneur in tech — from managing stress to embracing awkwardness. You can get his musings straight to your inbox by signing up for his newsletter!

Contrary to what many people may think, learning how to be a clown is not part of a circus school curriculum. I know, because I dropped out of school when I was 15, signed up for circus school, and graduated as a professional juggler three years later. 

Circus school was very much about specializing in one skill, spending countless hours practicing, and building an act around that. Becoming a clown, however, followed a completely different process.

Clowns, all joking aside, take being a clown very seriously. The thing is, you can’t just train eight hours a day for it and then eventually succeed, like with juggling. A real clown IS a clown. He or she isn’t acting. The clown is already there, hidden inside of us, and the course focused on finding your inner clown and peeling away the layers of respectability, rather than trying to make you simply act like one. 

Be authentic

Many years ago I knew a young entrepreneur who was always hustling. When he found an opportunity to make money, he went for it. He had no specific interest or hobby and was just interested in doing business. He’d buy and sell and make a margin and that was enough for him. I recently bumped into him and he’s now rich and successful and still hustling buying and selling ever more expensive things. 

[Read: Working from home is great — until your co-workers show up]

While this is clearly a success — he’s happy and rich and he has achieved his goals and dreams — I personally find it hard to be positive about what he achieved. I can’t relate because my starting point was always my interest in technology and innovation, building upon who I was at my core. Only caring about wealth is a very specific kind of poverty. 

I do realize that’s a very privileged thing to say, but if you can, try to unpeel your traditionalist layers and find out who you really are. Nothing can beat authenticity.

I heard a comedian describe once how he developed his act. At first, he began looking for jokes in the world around him, but soon he realized the best jokes were to be found within. 

When he felt uncomfortable about something, he discovered it paid off to poke and prod at it and build the joke around the discomfort it caused him. The deeper he went, the more personal and funnier his routine became, and also more distinctive. 

I guess we all have our inner clown to discover. And my inner clown is a very specific one. I couldn’t play a different clown and care about the things I don’t care about. Now let me ask you, who’s your inner clown?

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