The Day I Called Myself an Entrepreneur
Labels mean something.
There’s an old joke that goes like this:
Entrepreneur is actually a French word that means “Idiot.”
Like that one? Here’s another
What’s the difference between an Entrepreneur and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family.
Laughing? My Uncles sure did. So did my Professors. And just about everybody else I shared my dreams with when I was in my early 20's.
Then one day, people stopped joking. They looked at me with respect. They offered me up connections, resources. And what caused the change was simpler than you might expect.
I started introducing myself as an Entrepreneur.
When you introduce yourself as an “aspiring ___” you’re inviting your audience to take a hot steaming shit all over your dreams. Pardon my French, but it’s true.
“Aspiring” is a death sentence for 3 big reasons:
- You reveal you’re inexperienced.
- You reveal your lack of confidence.
- You reveal you have no idea how to sell yourself.
Guess what three things you need in order to be a successful Entrepreneur? Uh-Oh, experience, confidence and the ability to sell yourself are pretty high up there. Let’s break it down:
You reveal you’re inexperienced
What has an “aspiring” Entrepreneur done? “Aspired” to create a new company? Boring. Everybody and their Uncle have done that. There’s a lot of skill, blood, and sweat that goes into making a difference in this world.
You reveal your lack of confidence
What is a salesman without confidence? A poor fool with a lot of debt.
You reveal you have no idea how to sell yourself
I’m not going to pretend that selling an image isn’t half the battle of succeeding in business. Harvard is just a place where smart people think they should go. It’s not actually the best college. Would you apply to a school that “aspires” to be the best place of higher learning in the world?
I’m not here to dissuade people from pursuing their dreams- far from it. I’m offering a call to action: Give yourself the label you desire. Start today. You’ll see big changes fast.
Tell me what you’re no longer “aspiring” to be. Let’s keep the conversation alive.
