Is that an entrepreneur?

ARCHIT KOTTAPALLI

There are so many people who call themselves entrepreneurs today. Just taking a quick look at LinkedIn or Facebook profiles reveal that. Almost every other person calls themselves an entrepreneur these days. What does that mean? Are there really so many companies out there? Are so many people entrepreneurs? Where do these enterprises go? So many questions.

The truth is, not a lot of these ‘entrepreneurs’ can really be called so. That is because working for yourself and being an entrepreneur are two different things. These people who make their own enterprises and work in them are pseudo entrepreneurs. You can differentiate them from entrepreneurs easily, and it is important to know the difference if you want to know which ideas and companies to invest in.

Working for yourself is considered typical merchant behaviour. You try to sell your time and effort to the highest bidder. While this is great, it severely ripples the scalability of your start-up. This is because, as a lot of people will tell you, time is a very limited resource. Successful entrepreneurs use their time to increase the quality of their product or service, increasing the amount of money they make in an hour. As was famously said, an entrepreneur is someone who makes money even while he is asleep, and that kind of situation can only be brought about by spending time on making your product better rather than making more and selling.

Another mistake that people make is treating themselves as employees in their own company. When you start your own enterprise, it is important to remember to not spend all of your time on just developing a product. As the captain of the ship, it is also your duty to spend time on marketing, sales, and other aspects that increase the scaling potential and valuation of the company. People who do not spend time doing this typically end up doing what they would do in any other company anyway, and that means that their idea is as good as lost to a competitor.

Finally, one of the best ways to identify an entrepreneur is by the fact that he is unemployable. This is not because he is really bad at his job, but because he refuses to take up any other job. One often hears of rags-to-riches stories of entrepreneurs and are inspired by them. The truth is, these entrepreneurs could all have been great employees, but they gave up on these ‘dream jobs’. They didn’t do it out of pride, but because they were fully committed to an idea. Their faith in their product is unshakable, so nobody can convince them to quit, or give up and just become an employee. These people build million-dollar industries because they want to realise their vision.

What do you think a true entrepreneur is like? Do you know any entrepreneurs who live around you? Let us know in the comments below and as always, don’t forget to share the content if you liked it!