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What It’s Like to Be an Entrepreneur
By Amanda Frazier
I often get asked, “What is it like to be an Entrepreneur”? Most people view Entrepreneurs as the true definition of success. The people that ask this are actually interested in Entrepreneurship, and that true success really means to be an Entrepreneur. I personally agree with this. Entrepreneurs are great. Others…well they can only assume being an Entrepreneur means you’re an ADD executive who’s jobless.
Because of this, I decided today (or tonight rather, it’s actually almost midnight) that I’d define what it’s really like to be an Entrepreneur, and a successful Entrepreneur at that. Entrepreneurship has its ups, as well as downs. For those of you who think it’s easy, it’s not. In my opinion, us Entrepreneurs have earned that success.
Let me start by defining what Entrepreneurship really is (based on my opinion anyhow, feel free to chime in leaving comments defining what you believe Entrepreneurship to be).
Entrepreneurship is a way of life.
Most Entrepreneurs don’t conform to everyday life. Not because we don’t want to, but usually because we can’t. If we do try to conform to the typical everyday life, we quickly realize this does not work.
Let’s use this example for instance. If I try to work a 9-5 job, I can…in the beginning. Like everyone else, I can get up early. I can get my children dressed, fed, and dropped off at their school. I can head on into work like the average joe. Therein is not the problem.
I sit down with my new boss. I get assigned the standard projects, maybe it’s developing his “cutting edge” marketing strategy, or maybe it’s redesigning the database. Then the problem starts … I start getting ideas. One right after another. Of how I can improve things, how I can solve the company’s problems. How this could be…well…just so much better.
Now what happens? I’m an Entrepreneur, so I execute. And this, this is where I really get in trouble. Instead of working on that marketing strategy, I’m now off executing my exciting new ideas for someone else’s business.
That was when I turned back to Entrepreneurship. Something always kept me coming back to it. Maybe it was the freedom? Maybe it was the ability to take myself as far I desired to go? Whatever it was, I knew I couldn’t turn away from it.
Entrepreneur Freedom and Working from Home
What Entrepreneur doesn’t love working from home? It’s not that I desire the “home life” or the life of a “home maker”, but rather the fact that I spent $300K on a home. It seems like such a waste of money to not spend a great deal of time there. I also know I save money on office space, which in turn contributes to my overall defined success as an Entrepreneur.
That’s just one reason particular to my personal situation. There are many more reasons why Entrepreneurs prefer to work at home…freedom (you’ll probably hear me use that word a lot). We love freedom. Freedom is valuable, and high on our priority list.
I want to clear a common misconception about Entrepreneurs and their freedom: this has nothing to do with lack of discipline or lack of undertaking responsibilities. It’s about being in charge of ourselves, because we know if given the chance….Entrepreneurs can do great things.
Entrepreneurs want freedom and independence. As my business partner Dennis always says, “Entrepreneurship is essentially defining your own success, on your own terms”. I couldn’t have described it better myself.
Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Utilize Office Space
I sometimes laugh (quietly of course) at the people who try to upsell office space to sole Entrepreneurs (the ones that work by themselves). If Entrepreneurs do rent office space, it’s usually only when we have employees and businesses that absolutely require it.
Back in the day, SBDCs and Incubators attempted to do this. The deal was they would “incubate” you (and your business), in turn for full time dedication and rental of one of their office spaces. To me, that’s bad business. For one, they weren’t considering who their target market was (um..Entrepreneurs). If they did, they would know an Entrepreneurs most valued resource is their freedom. Doesn’t that purpose completely defeat what Entrepreneurs are all about?
So where do Entrepreneurs work when we’re not at home? I don’t know about you guys, but I usually find a generous gathering of Entrepreneurs at the local Starbucks and Paneras.
Starbucks coffee + Entrepreneurs = some of the greatest Entrepreneurial brainstorming sessions of all time.
I think Entrepreneurs support 90% of Starbucks gross revenue. I noticed we all usually flock to Starbucks in the morning. Starbucks provides Entrepreneurs with a quiet place to get caffeine running through our blood, and conduct our morning meetings. We can get a little crazy on these days, and I’m still debating on whether or not this coffee actually contributes to our success. Or does it make us run around like mad men with no particular planned agenda?
After we’re all pumped on our coffee, we run our separate ways. Talking on our phones, and pulling out the “to do lists” scribbled on napkins.
FedEx- The Entrepreneurs Paper Factory
What Entrepreneur doesn’t love FedEx? You can send faxes, print papers, and anything else you can think of from your computer. Probably while you’re sitting at Starbucks or Paneras in the morning.
Organization and Time- The Entrepreneurs Worst Nightmare
I really hate time management. It has to be done though, and I feel the same holds true for most Entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are like a whirlwind, we do things so fast… knocking down mountains of papers and anything else that’s in our way. At the end of the day, we’re usually starring at a pile of unorganized paradox, and wondering where our time went.
Details kill me. Like most Entrepreneurs, I’m just not a detail oriented person. Not only this, but I feel details are one of the most time consuming tasks known to man. I always heard “Put your time where your strengths are”, so I figured I’d leave the time management and organization on auto pilot.
Life as an Entrepreneur Gets Crazy
I purely know my life as an Entrepreneur to be crazy. There’s really no other way to describe it. The good news is, my team and I do the best we can to have a good time and make light of our situations.
We always say an Entrepreneur team is different; there are no set rules, no established methods, and no processes to follow. Everything that comes into the business is created by us, and that’s not as easy as it looks. I believe it’s the most overlooked challenge as an Entrepreneur. People generally look at us and believe what we do is easy, when in reality it’s not.
It takes one hell of a person to not only live the life of an Entrepreneur, but to create success as an Entrepreneur.
