What the heck is an entrepreneur?

March 2019 marked the start of a new chapter for me.

I’d recently made the decision to embark on a new career, leaving the corporate world behind and enrolling in a coaching diploma. 

Now, nine months later, I thought it was about time I returned to blogging to give you a bit of an update on my progress.

GOOD NEWS. I passed my diploma (with distinction!) and I’m now a certified coach and a Neuro Linguist Practitioner. 

WOAH I hear you say, a neuro-what-now? Yer, it’s a bit of a mouthful.. and I’d explain it but that would take up the rest of this blog, and there are other more important things to chat about. So have a look here if you’d like to find out more about that.

So, this blog marks the start of another new chapter for me… that of becoming an entrepreneur.

It used to feel weird for me to write that. The word ‘entrepreneur’ always used to hold these connotations for me of somebody who was successful, powerful, bold and daring. A person who loves taking risks, someone who was always a winner. It felt like a badge of honour which I wasn’t yet worthy of. 

But I think the Oxford English Dictionary gives a better definition by simply stating that it is ‘A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.’ Definitely a lot less glamourous.

So for me, the word entrepreneur has now come to mean somebody who sacrifices a regular monthly pay cheque in the belief that their new venture is worth it.

And that’s it. 

It’s not about being anything in particular. It’s more about doing, and believing. You are an entrepreneur the moment you make that decision to pursue a dream and you take that first step. 

Why do you do it? Not because you’re already successful, powerful or a winner, but because you believe that it’s a dream worth failing for. 

And that’s what it boils down to. 

You don’t know if you will succeed. You hope it will work. But you do it anyway, despite the risk (which incidentally a lot of entrepreneurs do not love!) because you believe in what you’re doing. 

My new venture is focussed on helping entrepreneurs who are running or want to set up small businesses that are a force for good in the world. Ventures which look to make positive changes either for society or for the planet. 

Might I fail? It’s a very real possibly, and the stats would paint a bleak picture. But I’m prepared to, because I believe in what I'm doing enough to give it a try.

I believe we need to help people convert their brilliant, crazy, world-changing ideas into thriving businesses, because it is through the scale, impact and influence of business that these people are able to effect real change and shape our future for the better. 

I want to have a positive impact through my business, and the best way I’ve found to do that is to use my coaching skills and business experience to help others increase their positive impacts, so collectively we can achieve more good for the world.

That feels to me like a dream worth failing for.