Why Be an Entrepreneur!?

I have been coaching startups and small business owners for the last 13 years. My experience has been as as a contractor, employee and entrepreneur. As many of you know, entrepreneurship is difficult. But there might be a few things that you do not know about entrepreneurship, and startups specifically. Have a seat; let’s chat.

What is Entrepreneurship?

In many cultures entrepreneurs are seen as demigods of risk. They are the brave ones that throw caution to the wind and take on the impossible. Perhaps… What I have come to learn about entrepreneurs is that they have strong internal motivation to create. Many of them can’t even articulate it in this way, but I find it true in most instances.

From the perspective of creation I see entrepreneurship as something truly spiritual. I just want to pause briefly and reiterate that there is a significant differences between starting a new business vs launching a startup. A new business is usually in a known market with a known customer. The solution can be changed based on the current solution in the market. You can ‘simply’ add better service or pricing and win over a part of the market.

On the other hand a startup is a solution for an unknown market and unknown customer. The proposed solution is potentially disruptive and can put current solutions out of business. The nature of a startup is finding exactly what customers want and then going through a iteration process of developing a minimum viable product. It is a much longer and uncertain process.

Both of these do however share the very important key value of creation. It is a solution creation process that needs constant care. Entrepreneurship from this perspective is therefore a spiritual process where the entrepreneur takes vision and adds it to action in order answer a need in society. The entrepreneur creates something out of nothing — spiritual.

What is the Motivation?

Different entrepreneurs have different motivations for starting a business. The obvious one is that you can potentially earn more money. The second reason I hear the most is that of being your own boss. Yes, they are good reasons. The best reason I have however heard was that “I cannot, not, do it”.

What is the best motivation? Inner conviction! When I meet entrepreneurs I am looking for the spark. It is a look in their eye that they have settled the question about why be an entrepreneur for themselves. No one can settle the question for you. You have to do it yourself. It starts with a little thought that you cannot get away from: “Can I do this? Could I create a business? Do I have it in me?”

Then What?

Once you have started the process of entrepreneurship it is usually a roller-coaster ride. Despite what some of the globally successful entrepreneurs will project, it is hard. But if you have decided that this is your journey, it is a journey of continuous learning. Your business will only grow as much as you do. You cannot create beyond inner re-creation.

Our greatest capacity in human beings for creation lies inside of us. The real journey of entrepreneurship lies inside of us. It is about facing fears, asking help, exploring, feedback and belief. This is a spiritual journey where your deepest desires will be made evident in the process of creation.
It is about going from survive to alive.

Originally published at https://survivetoalive.com on August 5, 2019.