The 3 types of entrepreneurs, which one are you?
There’s a boom in people starting their own businesses at the moment, everything from people starting cafes to those brave soles setting up high tech software businesses in their back bedroom. We tend to lump them all together under the label of ‘Entrepreneur’ however, there are different types of entrepreneurs, and knowing which you are can help on the path to building a successful business.
Most people uninitiated to, and contemplating entrepreneurship are fearful about it and wonder if they’re up to it. This is because of the myth that entrepreneurs are wide-eyed daring risk-takers, akin to professional poker players going all-in on the flimsiest of hands, risking all on the turn of a card. This is not true at all, the best entrepreneurs understand smart risk management, they spend time thinking about the risks they take and do their utmost to mitigate.
What is an entrepreneur anyway?
An entrepreneur can be defined as a person who devises, sets up, and runs a new business or businesses. It’s as simple as that, there are no prerequisites to being labeled as an entrepreneur, no formal qualifications required and no prior experience is necessary. However, the path into the life of entrepreneurship is often different for each individual.
Intentional Entrepreneurs.
For some people it’s almost in their blood, they’ve been set on the path to entrepreneurship since day one, these are the ones who were selling sweets in the playground, they have a natural bent for the hustle and bustle of business ownership. They may even come from a family of entrepreneurs. I call these intentional entrepreneurs. It’s been their intention right from the beginning to start a business and perhaps even get rich from it.
Intentional entrepreneurs tend to be very focused on what they’re looking to achieve and have the tenacity to keep going when the going gets tough. The biggest problem that I’ve seen with Intentional entrepreneurs is their lack of listening skills. It tends to be their way only, and they do suffer from the ‘not invented here’ syndrome.
For others, entrepreneurship is thrust upon them. They could have been made redundant and are unable to find a new position, or they could have started a side hustle that has grown beyond their expectations. Either way, these people are not like the first group of entrepreneurs. They are either accidental entrepreneurs or reluctant entrepreneurs.
Accidental Entrepreneurs.
Those entrepreneurs who woke up one morning and realised that they have quite a big business, they may even have several staff working for them, this was not their intent, it just happened. I call these entrepreneurs, accidental entrepreneurs. They’ve accidentally stumbled upon a working business model for them that’s growing.
Accidental entrepreneurs generally have quite a lot of problems when it comes to building a sustainable business. This down to the path that their business growth has taken. Because a lot of what they’ve been doing has been haphazard in nature, they’ve not put the necessary systems in their business, and therefore when problems arise they tend to be unprepared for them. (See my blog on the business owner’s journey). This lack of processes and systems means that nearly every problem is seen as something new and therefore requires energy and time to think of a suitable solution.
At some stage, the accidental entrepreneur realises that they can’t carry on like this and that something needs to change. It’s at this point that they seek out help to build the necessary business skills in order to be sustainable. They may even seek out experienced managers to manage the business on their behalf. If they don’t seek out help there is a significant possibility that the business will start to fall in around them and eventually fail.
Reluctant Entrepreneurs.
For some people the path into entrepreneurship is unavoidable, they feel that there is no other way that they can make their way in the world. This is generally after being made redundant or leaving a job and not being able to find suitable employment.
Reluctant entrepreneurs tend to be older and come from the corporate world where they may have held senior management positions. Initially, they are confident about achieving a new corporate position, after all who wouldn’t want somebody with their vast experience. However frequently the case is that nobody wants or needs them.
Thus the reluctant entrepreneur starts looking for ways to make a living. They’re not generally looking to build a big business but to replace the income they had. They use their management experiences to the full extent, they are well organised and feel that their corporate experience will translate well into the new environment that they find themselves in.
Unfortunately as many before them have found, the new world of being a small business owner is vastly different from that of being a corporate executive. The corporate executive is generally surrounded by a support team, everything from marketing to sales to financial services is just a single email or phone call away. However, our reluctant entrepreneur has none of these to hand. They have to manage all of these tasks themselves. Unfortunately, many of the skills they may have developed as a corporate manager do not translate well into the small business owner world.
Perhaps the biggest shock for our reluctant entrepreneurs is the lack of a regular salary. Unlike the corporate world where the monthly paycheck is somewhat divorced from their personal performance or the cash flow of the business, in the world of the small business owner this is a regular reality. If the money isn’t there you can’t pay yourself, staff and other overheads, unfortunately, come first.
Our reluctant entrepreneur will eventually either recognise that they need help in this new world that they found themselves in or go back to the corporate world if they can’t.
Whichever category you find yourself in, it’s no guarantee of either success or failure. I’ve known accidental entrepreneurs that have become incredibly successful once they’ve recognised that they needed help. I’ve known intentional entrepreneurs who’ve gone from failure to failure, always having the belief that the next one is the one that’s going to bring them the success they crave. And I’ve known reluctant entrepreneurs who’ve battled from day to day to get somewhere only to give in and go back to the corporate world, usually at a lower position than they were originally in.
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