Defining Yourself as an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur is a word that appears to have attached itself to many different skill sets/positions.  When we perfect these skill sets/positions we are an entrepreneur.  In reading posts from many different media sites, the definition has become foggy.  Within entrepreneurs not only do you see the skills, the failures/success, you see a very distinct and deep motivation and purpose.

• Many houses get built every year but homes do not achieve the same growth rate.

Finding one's path to success is challenging at best.  Where we start from and what values we hold onto through the journey are the arbiters of success.  The lists of skills or methods of success abound and are important, but are they natural in origin or forced upon a journey that lacks personal values and purpose.

Being an entrepreneur is a result not a position.  I came from modest means and was driven not by positions or status but need.  I needed to provide for my family and realized early on where you start matters. Education seemed very boorish in nature so I elected not to attend college, but rather go out and make my first million.  In the 70’s and 80’s small business was all the rage and several family members were starting out.  Entrepreneurs existed but was not a profession.

The difference between now and then is motivation. Entrepreneurs were individuals that still regaled from the 60’s mantra of stick it to the establishment.  More importantly we wanted to succeed on our own terms and develop a path that fit our unique perspective.  Although it would seem the boomers were totally disconnected from society, we really held onto many of the values of the past.  Only when we cleaned up and realized living on love wasn't providing enough calories.

I would be hard pressed to write anything that could match @Simon Sinek’s Start with “Why” posts and writings.  This is the question that everyone must answer in a world where the what is more important.  Why is what drags you out of bed in the morning.  My why was, simply put, Legacy.  My parents came from a rural setting and got “City” jobs.  They encouraged me to grow from where they dropped me off.  My job is to carry the family a little further and drop my children off. Legacy.  This is my why.  My first why was money and probably many more, the most enduring and motivating, for me, was legacy.

Dave Ramsey of the quicky budget fame, used an analogy of saving five thousand dollars vs needing five thousand for medicines to cure your child.  The money is indifferent in each case.  The why though, is different in every way.  In the case of needing the medications we should become entrepreneurs very quickly.

Having a great and meaningful why is not easy.  Its just as hard as having a bad one.  The difference is one moves forward the other one is typically stagnant.  My why is good and I am still working on the first million.  But with the right why, the million becomes unimportant.