What’s an entrepreneur? I don’t even know that the word has a definition at this point. It’s so overused and broadly defined. In a make believe cinematic universe, entrepreneurs are people who hang out at raves every night drinking expensive champagne and traveling the world without a care.
The truth is more gritty.
Entrepreneurs are people who know the feeling of missing dinner with family because they have to work late. Entrepreneurs are people who know what it’s like to pour your heart and soul into a prospect or project only to have that opportunity or project disappear for the most insignificant of reasons. Entrepreneurs are people who have to borrow money, not as capital or funding for their business, but to make this month’s rent. Entrepreneurs are people who compromise in order to close deals that they know are not in their best interest.
Oftentimes, entrepreneurs are people who take a journey of a thousand miserable steps.
Do I consider myself en entrepreneur? I’m not sure, but plenty of people tell me I am. My buddy Charlie Patel once asked me what characterized me as an entrepreneur and I told him that I had to pick up cat puke the prior day before a client meeting. He thought that was a brilliant illustration.
Don’t cry for me though. I live in a nice house in a nice area and drive a BMW. But that doesn’t mean that the journey there was the end result of a night out with a bunch of buddies with ironic mustaches.
Entrepreneurs aren’t the product of their personal brand or social engagement. They don’t spring into existence because of well curated content or a growing mailing list.
Entrepreneurs are forged and tempered in the sometimes grueling fire of hard work.
Are you an entrepreneur?
These are my 300 words for the day. I am Ralph M. Rivera.
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