Comments on: Am I an Entrepreneur?

By: Danielle Morrill

Danielle Morrill — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:02:48 +0000

@CocoaP wow - small world! That's great, I'm glad you found me and I hope we can reconnect, thanks for the encouragement.

By: CocoaP

CocoaP — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:19:39 +0000

Very intersting that I came across the mention of your name and this blog. I must have found you after about 4th level of clicking through reading random blogs.
Anyhow, we met in Caribbean and I remember your company’s iPhone application Whrrl. Great job, and keep up the spirit of entrepeurship!

By: Danielle Morrill

Danielle Morrill — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:10:01 +0000

@Nils I'm surprised to hear that "entrepreneur" has a negative connotation in your mind. I associate being an entrepreneur with being free to fail, or conversely to succeed with a much greater payout than can be had working for someone else's business. From what I can tell, successful entrepreneurs don't do much wheeling and dealing since starting a company and getting it to yield a profit usually takes years of focus.

I agree that "it's the spirit of engaging that counts" and I think the engagement level I see in entrepreneurs is very high. The stakes are high for them and so their intensity is a natural outcome; they are trying to make the most of their endeavour. I think one reason I'm confused about whether I'm an entrepreneur or not is that I feel like I've got that same intensity in my work, but maybe I'm confusing the "spirit" of entrepreneurship with the actuality of it?

By: Nils Geylen

Nils Geylen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:19:49 +0000

To me, entrepreneur has somewhat of a negative connatation already. It sounds like someone wheeling and dealing their way into making a living from anything that will do.
I suppose whether you have your own business, take on great projects, or just get things done, it’s the spirit of engaging that counts. We who reach out, do things, share, may not be entrepreneurs or enterprise owners, I’m sure we’re busy enough to count as interactors, perhaps even movers. Let’s not shake that up any more than needed.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:53:15 +0000

I agree, being an entrepreneur is romanticized in a way similar to how being a “starving artist” gets romanticized.
The only first hand experience I have with it was when my father started his business, but at the time I was too young to empathize with him the way I would now over things like making sure the mortgage is getting paid, an putting off paying taxes until the last possible moment.

I think both being an entrepreneur and being entrepreneurial are good things, and there are times for both although entrepreneurs are far less common than entrepreneurial people. Even if you’re never an entrepreneur you can certainly approach any value creation with an entrepreneurial mindset, and hopefully reap a greater outcome as a result.

By: Jordan Mitchell

Jordan Mitchell — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:45:07 +0000

Being an entrepreneur is often romanticized; it’s usually SO much more miserable than you hear about. (take it from me!)

Labels are often misconstrued — are you “a swing dancer” or do you merely enjoy swing dancing? I think being “entrepreneurial” is much more important than being “an entrepreneur”.