Someone asked me if entrepreneurship was about making a lot of money.
Many—if not most—entrepreneurs would probably answer that it is not so. And, certainly, it tends not to be so in the beginning. The statistical fact is that it is tough to make a lot money as an entrepreneur, particularly in the beginning.
Entrepreneurship is about independence.
Indeed, entrepreneurship is about independent creativity, self-empowerment and self-actualization. And, of course, entrepreneurship is about adventure. Money is an incidental corollary.
Many entrepreneurs might even go on to say—such as many artists and creative persons—that they had no real choice. The dream of something new was in them, and it simply had to get out. That yearning for independence would be satisfied.
Yes, it is true that the life-blood of business is profit, which is an essential monetary function. But, after working with entrepreneurs for more than 30 years, I think many entrepreneurs would say that there are far easier ways to make money than entrepreneurship. In monetary terms, a few entrepreneurs are wildly successful, more are pleasantly successful, and even more are simply successful, but most fail.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Simply stated, entrepreneurship is a tough gig.
Once I was trying to explain entrepreneurship to my young children. I used the example of the early explorers crossing the ocean to find the New World. The risks, the rewards, the fears, the hopes and the opportunities. The tests to self that are the necessary cause of excellence. For the entrepreneur, to attempt performance at anything less than A+ is a concession leading to failure: if you do your best, you might fail, but, if you don’t do your best, you’re likely to fail. Luck is bad entrepreneurial strategy.
The following clip of Sir Walter Raleigh‘s character speaking to Queen Elizabeth’s character represents the subject of entrepreneurship quite well:
Yes, the captains of the great adventures to the New World, being the early entrepreneurs, needed ships and money, often by sponsors or investors. We know the history of the trials (literally) and tribulations of Christopher Columbus who had to beg for the sponsorship of Queen Isabella of Spain.
Indeed, no man is an island, and everyone is a slave at some level to something.
But, William Shakespeare had it exactly right in The Taming of the Shrew, “No profit grows where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what you most affect.“
Entrepreneurs are some of the hardest workers I know, and they do it because they love it. But, whether deemed work or not, row, row, row that boat entrepreneurs must, lest they sink. This is the difference for the entrepreneur: there is no safety blanket; in many states, entrepreneurs do not even qualify for unemployment compensation! No dinghy there: row or sink, now choose.
This is why we love entrepreneurs. They row.
Of course, entrepreneurship does not have to exist in a separate enterprise, it could be at any level of participation or within any scope, and, indeed, it is often encouraged within divisions of large enterprises. Entrepreneurship is a mindset.
Entrepreneurship itself is a noble undertaking, providing the chain mail of the American economy, robustly protecting America’s prosperity at every level. Entrepreneurship is exactly the cure for the “too big to fail” problem. It’s the little links that are bound together in protective economic unity, just like chain mail; to wit, interdependent enterprises that are, together, flexible and robust.
Entrepreneurship is a type of sport, and it teaches mental toughness and personal character; indeed, how to fend for and to provide for oneself, and how to be profitable servants.
Aesop taught us about dependence and freedom, in his famous fable, The Dog and the Wolf:
64. THE DOG AND THE WOLF
A hungry Wolf came upon a House-Dog. The Dog said, “Cousin Wolf, are you hungry?” “Why, yes,” replied the Wolf.
“Well, look at me!” the Dog continued. “Why not get your food regularly provided by others?” “I might, if I could only get a place,” replied the Wolf. “I can arrange it. Pray follow me,” said the Dog.
On the way, the Wolf noticed a wearing away of the Dog’s neck hair.
“Cousin Dog, whatsoever happened to your neck?” cried the Wolf.
“That is where my master puts a collar upon me at night to keep me chained up,” replied the Dog.
“Good-bye to you then, Cousin Dog. Thanks, but no thanks.
“The pang of hunger in my stomach is much preferred to the clang of a chain around my neck.“
Moral of the Story: He who feeds us, enslaves us. (“Qui nos pascit, nos servum suum facit.”)
“Qui nos pascit, nos servum suum facit.” (“He who feeds us makes us his slave.”) ~grz
See The Business of Aesop™ article series index.
© 2016 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Read more articles here.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/he-who-feeds-us-enslaves-dog-wolf-gregg-zegarelli-esq-
See also:
GRZ42
<<Back to prior Business of Aesop™ Series [#GRZ_40] – Forward to next Business of Aesop™ Series [#GRZ_53] >>