The "...you might just be an Entrepreneur" list
After being, teaching, eating, living, and breathing "entrepreneurship" for over 20 years, we thought we had a pretty good idea about exactly what entrepreneurship was. Then, we started talking to other entrepreneurs about its definition. Boy, did we get schooled - old-school.
We started asking these entrepreneurs what entrepreneurship meant, and specifically what it meant to them. What we found was that it seemed that many people had a hard time defining it, but everyone could describe it. It became clear that trying to define entrepreneurship might lead us to that same conundrum with definitions that led a U.S. Supreme Court judge to once utter, "I don't know what it is, but I recognize it when I see it."
So rather then try to offer a definitive definition here, we thought we'd offer up the examples we received, and continue to receive. If you are an entrepreneur yourself, then maybe you'll recognize yourself here; if you're not an entrepreneur, you'll probably not "get" most of this anyway.
Regardless, with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy;
If...
- you consistently wake up at night, thinking, “If I just... then I could...” - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- the time-stamp on a significant amount of your outgoing email registers before 5:00 a.m. - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you browse business magazines that stroke your ego and tell you that you too, can be a millionaire if you want to... - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you start goggling "FranchiseOpportunities.com" for your kid’s lemonade stand - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you've had more then seven different job types in the last 10 years - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- after yet another tough day of battling with yet another boss, you're beginning to wonder if you're simply not "employable" - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you're over 50 and you still don't know what you want to be when you grow up - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you're working on a deal to buy the collateral infrastructure of a small Africa country and you have nothing in your bank and only $100 left on your MasterCard - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- 5:00 pm is just the start of the second half of your day - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you look at your dog or your kids and wonder to yourself, “How can you make me money?” - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- every time you go for a nice meal with a friend they ask you to invest in their business - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- your high school report card is peppered with "not working up to full potential" - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- the energy boost you get from just one really good idea exceeds the energy boost of the three pots of coffee you had for breakfast - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- after a long and arduous climb, you're looking at the view from the top of Mount Everest and realize that instead of enjoying the panorama you're already asking yourself “What's next?” - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- when asked what you do for a living, you can't answer in three words or less - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- in the middle of watching a love-scene from the latest Hollywood block-buster movie you find yourself thinking “I should have started a porn site, I’d be retired by now." - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- your original retirement plan included celebrating your 35th birthday - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you find yourself thinking "... retirement plan????" then laughing at the concept - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- six months ago you worked on Wall Street - you might just find yourself being an Entrepreneur (even if you didn't want to be).
- you're getting ready for work and you don't know if you should wear a suit and tie or your ratty old jeans and sweatshirt - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you take your laptop with you on holidays because work helps you relax - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you work 80 hour weeks to avoid working the "40 hour week" - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- you're ok with the fact that 11 out of 10 startups fail - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- so far, you've had three of those 10 - and you're in the middle of putting together number four - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- your kids can't explain to their teacher what you do for a living - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- even though you work over 60 hours a week, you have still attended every one of your sons little league games and afternoon parent / teacher interviews - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- the weekend is just like any other workday, except that no new projects are added to your "todo" list for two whole days - you might just be an Entrepreneur.
- there is a high co relational factor between the physical location of your yearly vacation and the annual business conferences you have to attend - you might just be an Entrepreneur.