What’s So Great about Being an Entrepreneur?

There are a lot of people out there who knock the entrepreneurial lifestyle. I’m finding more and more that these people are the ones who want to work 9-5 and keep the same job for 35 year and then retire. I don’t have any problem with that. In fact I respect the people who have that kind of patience and commitment to one company, or even just a few over the course of their careers. The fact of the matter is that I’m not sure I have the ability to stay tied down to one job for my whole life. Heck, I switched my college major four times! I refer to it as career ADD.

So what is it that draws people in to the entrepreneurial lifestyle? Well, for me it’s a combination of things. Here are some of the reasons:

1. There are too many great ideas that go to waste.  Life is far too short to sit in a cubicle day after day wishing you had capitalized on that “great idea” you had back in college. I don’t want to be that person. If I have an idea, I find a way to implement it or get it off the ground.
2. It is a challenge. Many people say that they couldn’t start a business because there is too much work involved and that there’s always someone out there with the same idea that you do. You know what? I don’t care. I’d love to start a company knowing that I am going to have to work hard to achieve my goals and beat the other people in a market. It’s like the difference between having a mechanic change your alternator and doing it yourself. Doesn’t it always feel much better after doing it on your own? I think so.
3. There is always opportunity. You can find an opportunity to be successful almost everywhere. From selling t-shirts to creating the next big social network, there is always room for improvement and new ways of doing things. The problem is that a lot of the time when people see opportunity, they also see challenge … see #2.
4. It can allow for a great lifestyle. A great thing about starting a business is that you are your own boss. This allows for great flexibility and the ability to do many things that other working folks may not be able to (work at home, be with your family, etc). This is not to say that entrepreneurs are not hard workers; it is actually quite the opposite. Working from home can allow you to work from home, but working from home also allows you to work 12-15 hours a day and not wish you could leave to back back to your family.
5. You are in control. The success and failure of your startup rests almost solely in your hands. Entrepreneurship is not for the meek. The only person that you can blame for the demise of your company is yourself. On the other hand, almost ever success is up to you as well.

There are so many other things that make being an entrepreneur amazing. What are your thoughts? Are you an entrepreneur at heart?

View to Comment Ratio

Think about how many blog posts and Twitter updates you look at per day. Now think of how many times you either make a comment or view a post on any of them. Not that many, right?  I would like to know why.

In my fairly young journey into the web 2.0 world I have read more articles than I can count. The amount of times I have commented on other people’s blogs or responded to a question on Twitter can be counted on one hand. Maybe I am alone in this respect, but I don’t think so. Here’s an example: according to Alexa.com, Twitter.com has upwards of 150,000,000 page views per day. I am willing to assume that there are not that many posts per day.

So where are all the views coming from? People want to know what others are saying, but I think that a lot of people aren’t confident enough in their own opinions and thoughts that they are willing to share them with others. It seems to be all about confidence in yourself and your own ideas. No one will know you have great ideas until you show them to the world.

The view to comment ratio on this blog is 64.4:1 … I realize this is a young site, but isn’t that a little skewed? People must have thoughts and opinions on the topics I write about. So please, let me know what you are thinking. As a matter of fact, comment on anything you read today.

Do you think you have the answer to this question? I always love to hear your thoughts and opinions.