Written by: Kylie Mort, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
“Internal motivation is the difference between those who dream and those who do.” Back Yourself, Chapter 1, Kylie Mort.
We all have dreams. We all strive to live a life of happiness and fulfilment, whatever that may be from our individual perspective. For many of us, this includes the freedom to build a career out of passion. Turning our God-given gift into a commercial construct that will pay dividends of esteem, time, and financial rewards. For some of us, this is encapsulated in entrepreneurial enterprise.
So what does it mean to be an entrepreneur? To dwell in the cross-cultural deconstruction of the word is fascinating. To take part, to take a part, to build, to make connections between, to be the interchange, and even some limited translational connections with undertakers and burials (is it such a coincidence then that I have become part of the Mort lineage of business developers? When Mort refers to both death and the hunting call of the kill? And Kylie refers to an aboriginal hunting weapon? Yet I digress…)
Also significant is the origins of this French word as a masculine term. Within my last featured magazine article I explored the gender biases of this linguistic twist. And just as the once contemptible term of “businesswoman” enjoyed a cyclical popularity, this terminology too becomes an example of another historical aberration that inevitably becomes a mainstream buzzword lauded and despised in equal measure.
But what of its loaded nature? When openly discussed the connotations rain down thick and fast. Followed by the inevitable classism and colloquial muck-throwing. Entrepreneur, business owner, business operator, incredibly wealthy individual…are they synonymous? And if an entrepreneur is to become the want-trepreneur who fails and loses everything, are they any less the original risk-taker? Still further, what of the moral obligations of the said creative merchant? What if the risk one takes is actually the risk of being caught in the act of replicating the successful enterprise of a friend, colleague, or acquaintance? What if your business acumen is actually branded by your ability to successfully and surreptitiously steal the idea of someone else? Are you any less the business owner taking a risk?
1. It can be logically argued that all entrepreneurs are business owners yet not all business owners are entrepreneurs.
What is it then that the average merchant lacks? What divides the two? Inescapably, the entrepreneur has a flair for business itself regardless of the product or service. The true business mind has the ability to actively commercialise and market an idea. The “serial entrepreneur”, dubbed thusly due to their habit of creating successive start-ups, may just be the purest form of our current understanding. This particular business person is the visionary. They identify the opportunity, the market and the support that will be required to develop, manufacture, and deliver the product or service. This business owner can scale an idea into a niche and a niche into a mainstream commercialised investment. Yet to do this you need both vision and knowledge. The entrepreneur can source the support they need to equip the vision with the necessary contemporary knowledge. Therefore, just as the birds of a feather flock together, the success of the entrepreneur relies on the collective noun.
2. Entrepreneurs do not stay in their comfort zone.
If I have learnt anything at all from my own decades of running a variety of businesses and the business networks that I collaborate with, it is the important caveat that there are both successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs. There are those who have the initial idea, create the niche, invest in the expansion yet, ultimately fail. Does that mean the vision was not valuable? No! It means they didn’t have the business acumen to pull it off. Therein lies the difference between a business start-up and an entrepreneur. A start-up can be founded on the generic blueprint of a one-size-fits all program, an entrepreneur covers new ground. Perhaps this is where the pretentious connotations originate, as an unsuccessful entrepreneur can still be a very successful business owner.
The generic blueprint can result in stable cashflow and profound profit. A perpetual cycle with loyal customers and reliable results is all many business owners crave. However, longevity in the business world requires forecasting and budgets, it requires mission and vision, and it requires growth. Business is a cycle and that which is not growing is inevitably dying. This growth can emerge as scale or diversity, where neither precludes the existence of the other. In this way, many a business person will be both entrepreneur and business owner simultaneously through diverse operational objectives. The business owner will keep the finances turning over, focused on the original model, whilst the entrepreneur will reach for the next level of creativity. A business owner is a successful merchant, but a business owner has the ability to become a successful entrepreneur with a novel idea they have the leverage and inspiration to grow.
3. Entrepreneurs evolve through adapting and pivoting.
The pandemic of 20/21 has seen the rise of the entrepreneur for many reasons. There are those of us, particularly in Victoria, Australia, who had no choice but to evolve. The government closed the doors of our businesses, barricaded the road to recovery and sealed shut the service lines to our revenue. What were we to do? To run a contemporary business one needs entrepreneurial skills and many business owners became entrepreneurs, not through choice but through necessity. The world around us evolved and we have adapted. Technology has provided a lifeline as the community changed the way it consumed goods and services. Has it made entrepreneurs of us all? No. Far from it. In a new era of online-overload and home-delivery haggling many are still falling foul of the status quo.
Why?
Because there is a marked difference between a simple change of approach and a business pivot. Those who have repackaged their delivery are successful business owners. Those who have repurposed the product and rejuvenated their marketing to match the climate are successful business owners. Then there are those who have done it differently. Entrepreneur labels include visionary, rarity and innovative. These minds are creative, and they take risks, high risks, gambling on their strengths. Yes, the risks are higher but so are the rewards. The entrepreneurial mind will take a concept and look at it from another angle to see a wholly different aspect, noticing something that is not yet common place. Where business owners are busy repackaging, repurposing, and rejuvenating, the entrepreneur has moved on to a new project altogether. To successfully own a business during a pandemic you need to evolve and adapt. The entrepreneurial business owner will also be pivoting to follow a vision. To identify problems before they are problems and needs before they are needed; that takes vision.
4. Entrepreneurs are Changemakers.
To mention you identify with the label of entrepreneur is a double-edged sword. The stereotypes and connotations surrender the basic term an insurmountable ambiguity. It encompasses wildly different definitions including the staggering success of billionaires, the rarity of product designers, the predictable messaging of the multilevel marketing company and the simplicity of the YouTube celebrity. To say you are an entrepreneur is as vague as claiming you are human. Yet at its core the definition of the individual entrepreneurial mind must be the changemaker, insofar as they are creating change. Because ultimately, if what you are offering is not:
New
Unique
Providing a solution
You are simply a successful merchant operator. Are all who identify with the label compassionate, empathetic individuals who wish to solve social problems? No, but they are all taking creative action. An entrepreneur is an individual who, brave or not, confident, or not, the bearer of moral integrity or not, gives themselves permission to invest in a unique idea. It is the individual who will focus energy into unpacking the positives, drilling down on the possibilities, and celebrating the opportunities that abound.
5. Entrepreneurs are a character profile
Just as all characters are complex, so too is the definition of the entrepreneur, as it speaks to a character profile. Is it pretentious to label yourself as an entrepreneur? That depends on what you perceive the label to encompass. What do irony and entrepreneurs have in common? As a performance coach who specifically teaches how to explore, explain, and extrapolate, these terms are both noticeably, an example of how we can know what something refers to without actually knowing it well enough to articulate. One of the key skills I teach to my essay writing clients is the need to learn, internalise and then articulate an idea. Without this cycle the information presented can be grossly misrepresented without intention. If one is to identify as an entrepreneur, one must certainly be able to articulate what their intended definition is, as it is certainly ironic how easily the literary meaning can be contextually vandalised by the lack of rigorous discernment.
6. Entrepreneurs are fallible
Entrepreneurs are the doers. They are the thinkers, the creators, the risk-takers. Entrepreneurs make mistakes, they lose money, they explore new pathways, and they reach dead-ends. They are fallible. They are human. Ultimately, to label yourself as an entrepreneur you are making a statement about your mindset. You may also be setting yourself up to be ridiculed and scorned should you fall short of your goals. In today’s contemporary society it is a term that is misunderstood, misappropriated, re-appropriated and both extolled and loathed alike. It has vastly different connotations due to the individual perceptions of those who have interacted with it and yet there are those who continue to strive for it. Be the last attempt successful or not, an entrepreneurial mindset is infinitely abundant and resourceful. As humans, we believe what we want to believe. Confirmation bias is the inclination to interpret information in a way that confirms what we already believe to be true. If one is to believe the entrepreneur is a label saved for the wealthy, the successful, the celebrity or the snake-oil salesman, one will find the evidence to prove it so.
I believe it is a mindset, and anyone can aspire to fulfil their dreams, no? The label entrepreneur does not necessarily come with the prefix of successful. Failed dreams are no less visionary. It’s not about exclusion, exclusivity, or stereotypes, but an individual striving for a better world and the perfect vision. What is your goal? What supports do you have? What knowledge do you need? Will you take the risk? Are YOU a business owner or an entrepreneur?
Kylie Mort, Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine Kylie Mort works with individuals of all ages to embrace and support the Academic Mind, Self-Awareness & the Mind-Body Connection. Assisting individuals by tailoring bespoke mentoring packages supporting academic, physical, and personal advancement and success. Kylie is an 1 Amazon Best-Selling International Author and Writer for Global Magazines, writing both academically and creatively to connect with those who seek guidance and inspiration to be their best selves. A former Secondary School Teacher & VCE Leader with 20 years of teaching experience, Kylie is a qualified & registered: School Teacher, Yoga Teacher & Performance Coach. She is also an entrepreneur, leading multiple-award-winning companies. She is currently studying Psychological Science at Deakin University to better provide holistic mentoring to her clients, having spent decades honing her skills in face-to-face teaching, mentoring, and business & company development. Now, she is focused on the human mind and its power to empower through reimaging, redesigning, and recreating. Discover more at www.kyliemort.com.au
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