What differentiates an entrepreneur from a businessperson?
Alan Goldberg
Franchise Specialist| Helps Entrepreneurially-Minded Professionals Achieve Financial Indep via Franchising | Expert on Multi-Unit Devt as Growth Strategy | Focus on Health & Wellness | Speaker on Today's New Entrepreneur
”I don’t believe it could be argued that an entrepreneur is a businessperson. But, I do believe it can’t be argued that not all businesspeople are entrepreneurs.”
Mark Cuban, perhaps the richest of the “Sharks” from hit TV show Shark Tank made his billions selling Broadcast.com which he founded in 1995 to Yahoo! in 1999 for $5.7 billion. This quote from the Dallas Mavericks owner addresses the common dilemma of which field we should pursue in our entrepreneurial life. Too often, we end up pursuing paths that aren’t optimal for our own lives, abilities, and interests. At the same time, it’s impossible to choose a perfect path in advance. Things will inevitably change along the way.
Given both the difficulty and importance of choosing a path in this life of ours, how do we go about putting Mark Cuban’s ideas into practice?
Ikigai
Have you heard of Ikigai? It’s a Japanese philosophy for finding a balanced life. Ikigai takes Mark Cuban’s quote and runs with it. To correctly follow Ikigai, you must seek a balance between not only what you love and are good at, but what the world truly needs, and you can also be paid for. This framework might help you find the way when considering different paths.
Regular Reflection
It’s important to reflect along the way during your entrepreneurial growth. Taking the time to sit back and assess whether you’re still in love with your work and whether your time might be better used elsewhere is an important part of the process.
Skills & Improvement
In order to remain good at something, we can never rest on our laurels. We need to remain committed to pursuing education and development anywhere we can. Once you’ve chosen a particular path, keep seeking ways to strengthen yourself while you walk it.
Inspiration vs. Motivation
Admittedly, many of us often conflate motivation and inspiration. I find I often use both words together in a sentence. What inspires me often motivates me as well. Is that wrong? It’s akin to a 1-2 punch. They work well together. However, maybe it doesn’t work for you.
Inspiration is defined as the process of being mentally stimulated – to do or feel something, especially something creative; a sudden brilliant, creative, or timely idea. Motivation is defined as the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. It’s the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
Kelly Slater, an American Surfer states:
A very concise message, to the point. Six simple words. Yet, I believe there’s much more to the spirit behind being motivated or inspired. Or should I say motivated AND inspired?
Dean Bokhari, a writer & speaker about personal development, meaningful work + mastery also presents an interesting perspective:
Today's new entrepreneur is about a way of thinking -- a mindset that is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach and leadership balanced. Entrepreneurship today is about innovation; about seeing problems as opportunities, and about changing the world.
To your health,
Alan Goldberg, CFE Pres/Chief Connecting Officer Fran-LINK Franchise Advisory & Consulting Group (m) 646.505.8262 (e) agoldberg@fran-link.com (w) www. Fran-link.com
About Alan Goldberg Helping people in various stages of reinvention discover the possibilities offered by business ownership through franchising. Being self employed can provide satisfaction, security and a path to wealth creation. My goal is to help you identify opportunities that best align with your personal interests, leverage professional background & skill set, and achieve income needs. Sometimes the goal is to relocate. Sometimes, it's to break free of corporate shackles. Whatever your motivation, we provide a step-by-step process of due diligence to define your long-range objectives and research business opportunities that will achieve these goals.
Our process is fun, thorough and simplifies navigation through the world of franchising. We guide you through a self-discovery that will help you determine if you are ready to invest in yourself – and provide a path for your journey.