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Entrepreneur – When someone arrive in a place and say « Hi! I’m an entrepreneur » it always makes some strange effect on people around. What do those individuals have more than us? Is it just confidence or do we have to match some criteria to be an entrepreneur?
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Everyone I know seems to see « Entrepreneur » as a big word. I’m pretty sure if I call my mum and say I’m an entrepreneur she would laugh at me and would tell me to come back on planet earth.
What does it even mean? What is an entrepreneur? Can I/ Can you be part of this VIP club too?
By definition, an Entrepreneur is: “a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit “ (Oxford Dictionaries). But also: “a person who organises and manages a business undertaking, assuming the risk for the sake of the profit” (Webster New World dictionary ).
In reality, many of us are entrepreneurs.The word « entrepreneur » comes from the French 🇫🇷 verb « entreprendre » which means starting something. Do you spot the nuance?
An entrepreneur is not just someone who starts a business to make money but someone who start a project with an objective in mind!
It might not sound like a big difference but I can tell you if all project starter saw themselves as entrepreneurs it would change a lot how people see entrepreneurship.
Starting a Book club? Organising meetup about your passion? Writing a blog? All those activities make us entrepreneurs. We can all have an entrepreneur mindset just by doing what we love!I understand why so many people are afraid of the word « entrepreneur », but once we’ll realise we can all be one it will change how we see ourself.
——— FAQ ———
> I Want to start a project but what if I don’t have time for that?
It’s an excuse we all use it’s like not having time for exercise (and trust me I use this one a lot). Starting our own project can be scaring but it’s also really exciting, and this is why it is worth the time spent on our precious free time. I’ll dedicate soon an article on how to find time to start a project on your free time. Stay connected on twitter or follow the blog to keep up to date!
It’s an excuse we all use it’s like not having time for exercise (and trust me I use this one a lot). Starting our own project can be scaring but it’s also really exciting, and this is why it is worth the time spent on our precious free time. I’ll dedicate soon an article on how to find time to start a project on your free time. Stay connected on twitter or follow the blog to keep up to date!
> Which of my idea should I follow?
I was recently attending a networking event where women talked about her different projects. She explained she was working on two different activities and she knew she will have to choose. For others in this situation, she explained the best to do is to focus on the idea we think about when brushing our teeth, getting ready in the shower or when going to bed. I would add to that, a few more things. Check out the article I wrote about her testimony here.
- First, what is our objective when starting a project?
Is it for hobby or for profit? It is not the same approach to develop a hobby and to start a project to make a living for it. (Of course, we all would like to make a living from our hobby, it’s possible but sometimes can be disappointing). - Then, how much time are we able to commit to this activity?
Does the plan is to start something in our free time or are we ready to be involved more than just a few hours a week? - Still not decided?
Talk to a friend and see how we face criticism and which idea we want to fight for.
Let’s just start planning like we are going to do both and see which one inspire us more!And if it’s impossible to choose now and we have time, let’s start all! You’ll have time to choose later (better if no more than 2 big projects).
> Do I need money to start a project?
Not necessarily. Depending on the nature of your project you can start with no or minimum investment. For example, you can start blogging for free and decide to invest in a domain name and hosting service only when you are comfortable with it, or you can start organizing a meeting with people in your field in an open coffee shop and then make it more formal with sponsoring opportunities to offer drinks and food or better place. The same goes for small business and startups. Whatever your project, there is always a way to be frugal and start with low-cost actions. Actually, this is really common in startups and it’s called « bootstrapping »
