21'st Century Manifesto : Part 2

The Definition of a True Entrepreneur

This blog is a part of AbleAlly’s 21st Century Manifesto that aims to help you choose the right career path based on psychological inclinations.

Entrepreneurship is risky.

We’ve all heard it innumerous times — from our relatives, parents, peers and ‘well-wishers’. Still, our generation doesn’t want to work for others.

Kids starting their own ‘small businesses’ are trending on Instagram, people who’ve just begun are flaunting themselves as business coaches, and what’s an average onlooker doing?

He’s wondering if we’ve finally found a perineal solution to earning money as a civilization by being an entrepreneur.

Before we jump to a conclusion, let’s look at the textbook definition of an entrepreneur first:

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The process of setting up a business is known as entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or procedures.

- Investopedia

The True Nature of Entrepreneurship

Every person using the term ‘entrepreneur’ is not a true entrepreneur.

When you see everyone on the internet using the term, it creates a deep confusion about who is a true entrepreneur and what does he do.

Well, if you look at the definition, there is a simple aspect that most people tend to ignore — innovation.

Trading in goods, doing a conventional business or simply imitating others (like most ‘online entrepreneurs’) isn’t entrepreneurship because there’s nothing new in doing that.

A true entrepreneur is someone who breaks the existing order of things by creating chaos and subsequently creating a new order out of their efforts. A true entrepreneur stands tall on openness and extraversion just like an artist.

Entrepreneurs see their product/company like artists look at their ‘work in progress’. Both use their concentration, creativity and uniqueness to create a masterpiece.

Entrepreneurs are chaos in the order of the world. From chaos, they create a new world order (or a breakthrough product/service).

Common Misconceptions about Entrepreneurship in the Digital World

Pick any social media channel and you’ll stumble upon an ‘entrepreneur’ within minutes of scrolling. A lot of ‘mimics’, ‘imitators’, ‘influencers’ and ‘social media gurus’ use the term entrepreneur promoting false notions about entrepreneurship such as:

• Entrepreneurship is Cool
• Most youngsters feel that entrepreneurship is a cool job, thanks to the flashy posts on Instagram by pseudo entrepreneurs who flaunt their lifestyle.
• People get attracted by the glamour and glitz of lifestyle — big cars, lavish homes, vacations at exotic locations and start believing that’s all to entrepreneurship. That’s the reason many people get duped by Ponzi schemes and network marketing ‘opportunities’
• In reality, every job has its own set of challenges and difficulties. Building a product or a company from scratch is no walk in the park and requires dedication and commitment just like any other task.

Only someone who can find order in chaos, is highly creative, open to new experiences, flexible and impulsive can bloom as an entrepreneur.

• Entrepreneurship = Self-employment

Many ‘small business owners’ online flaunt their smallbiz operations showing how they built everything from scratch as a one-person army. That’s what makes people confuse entrepreneurship with self-employment.

In reality, building a team is one of the most important parts of the entrepreneurial journey.

One cannot innovate without experts on board and cannot grow or scale a company after a point by just working for oneself.

• Entrepreneurship is Exciting

The product development journey can be quite exciting, no doubt. But choosing to be an entrepreneur only because a 9–5 job is boring and repetitive isn’t the right.

People think that only because entrepreneurship involves flexibility, independent decision-making and full-control, it will be better than a job.

Both paths — being a careerist or an entrepreneur, have their own quirks.

You should choose a path based on your psychological inclinations, which we covered in the first part of the 21st century manifesto.

Entrepreneurs need some special skills to succeed and if you’re not strong at them, it will be hard for you to be happy, succeed and grow.

The mere thought of doing something exciting shouldn’t drive anyone towards entrepreneurship. For many, working together in a team and being supportive of the bigger plans is a natural and better option.

Are You Fit for Entrepreneurship?

Skills That Make you a True Entrepreneur

According to The Big Five Personality Model, extraversion and openness to experience are the dominant traits of an entrepreneur. This means a person should be creative, flexible, people’s person, and open to trying out new things.

Translating these traits into professional skills, we have come at a skill matrix consisting of all the skills that can help you succeed as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurial Skill Matrix

Problem Solving | Research | Critical Thinking | Ideation | Design Thinking | Team Building | Storytelling

Stop being influenced by online trends and fandoms. Concentrate on self and your inner strengths to succeed as an individual in your life. And if the above skills are part of your strong suits, you should think of entrepreneurship, seriously.

Remember, entrepreneurship isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. If entrepreneurship is your thing and you feel tired in the journey, AbleAlly is here to help.