Entrepreneurship is not just for Entrepreneurs

Take a look at Instagram or Snapchat these days and it’ll seem like 1 out of every 3 people is an ‘entrepreneur’. Some of them even offering to help you become rich. All you need to do is follow them and buy their eBook. (Hey, you’ve got to appreciate the hustle)

These social media salesmen are on to something. They’ve realised that entrepreneurs are the new rock stars and raising multi-million dollar investments is the new sex, drugs and rock n roll. Or, more accurately, that’s the perception. The notion of entrepreneurship becomes more romanticised with every report of an app developer becoming a millionaire overnight and every carefully art directed Instagram post daring you to live the life of your dreams.

The reality is quite different. The reality is that it’s about putting in the long hours, the hard work, feeling the pain and rolling with the punches. If you’re able to stick it out, play the long game and forget about instant gratification, then you may just be an entrepreneur after all.

Maybe you’re not a born entrepreneur. Maybe you don’t have a great idea on which to build a business (yet). Not a problem. You have a skill set, get out and find opportunities to use it. The energy and momentum you gain when you spend time doing what excites you will push to levels you haven’t yet realised you’re able to attain.

The reality is that you won’t make much money at first, but that right there is your opportunity to be entrepreneurial. Money is not the only form of value to extract from a working relationship. Time, skills, access and education all have value and you’ll be amazed at what starts happening once you start moving forward and creating value for people. And if you break a few things along the way, perfect.

Think of it like this. You know that falling feeling you get in the split second after you trip? Your momentum carries your upper body forward and you can either fall flat on your face or you can move your feet a little faster to catch up. Instinctively, you do the latter and end up running a couple of steps ahead of where you would’ve been had you just kept walking along smoothly. So, why not keep running?

Originally published at www.eventerprise.com on August 9, 2016.