Entrepreneurs — what drives them?
There are more entrepreneurs now than at any point in history. Lots of things are in the DNA of entrepreneurs, including short-attention spans, and boredom. Boredom can be a huge catalyst for this personality type — they are spinning ideas out constantly, and love a challenge, and the feeling of building something and working for and watching it grow. There’s a reason it is infrequent to find entrepreneurs that have done only one business. After all, right now Jack Dorsey is heading up both Square, and Twitter. Based on Twitter’s current results, I can’t image that will last long. Ev Williams, who also was a Twitter founder, is now busy building Medium. Those two quick examples are typical of entrepreneurs.
But how to know what thing to act on next? How can you do the right things, in the right order, to reach your desired goals? Today, people who are business founders (ok, Kristine) are organised by requirement but are also incredibly flexible — rigidity is the kryptonite for a founder.
I’ve just started reading Messy: How to be creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world. If you do what feels conventional and safe you are probably tied to your plan and strategy too much; it is a fluid, living document. If you don’t allow for the fluidity and have the ability to switch tack quickly, you might have a safe and secure career, but you won’t be seeing any massive breakthroughs.
Messy has already made me think and act differently. I’m leaving time open, and blocked off, to relax, or workout, or do mind-mapping (the adult word for daydreaming.) I’ve already found this space gives me an area to free-form, and get my creative juices going. It is similar to why I’ve taken so many interim or contract roles over the years; you never want to be too rigid, as you might miss an exciting opportunity.
Entrepreneurs are natural innovators. We see things differently, and act and react in a unique way. It is also why so many of them find ourselves hiring people with complimentary skills, as it allows the founder to do what they do best — lots of ideation at the start, and continually trying to improve. The other person ensures the enterprise is ticking over, and meeting requirements.
In order to improve, and sate our insatiable appetite for information and to learn new things constantly, we all need to realise we should be continually learning — about a different industry, a different way of doing things, or about ourselves.
So, to us, boredom is just opportunity; an idea ready to be brought to life is probably sitting mighty close to that boredom. What common personality traits do you think founders have? We’d love your feedback and thoughts.
Kristine is an Anglo-American with a good dash of Irish sass from her father who loves digital and all its opportunities and challenges. She is the Founder | CEO of Aliferous Digital and also Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer for b e a n CHOCOLATE |LONDON.
I love retail, digital, talking about ideas (especially future trends), making things happen, wine, whiskey, sleep and the beach. I’m also sports mad. Wants to be in Cornwall as much as possible, and in her next career, an F1 driver just like Lewis Hamilton (or will happily retrain to be a F1 driver, or work for an F1 team) or Serena Williams.
You can reach Kristine via email at kristineATaliferous.co.uk
