When anything goes beyond a tipping point and becomes a part of the vocabulary of people en mass, the word defining it or associated with it, are used with a liberal dose of poetic license. The term, "entrepreneur" is one such word.
I promised myself when I took on the Spark10 Insights project that I will not get into an endless tirades and become a definition nazi, and I so I won't go back on my word. Not yet, at least! But before we move on to my definition of the term, there's one bit of etymological deviation that we must take.
The word "entrepreneur" comes from the French language, in which it means - a businessman (or businessperson, to be gender neutral). And that's it - an entrepreneur is just another business-person.
Nowadays, of course, it doesn't just mean a business-person. It means a lot more. And rightly so! Words and their definitions evolve over time to encompass new meanings and usage based on how the people use it in common parlance. So, what's my take on the meaning of the word 'entrepreneur'? When can you call yourself that?
There's only one thing, in my view, that makes an entrepreneur different from a business-person. In essence, she's everything a business-woman is: a) a risk taker, b) wants to make money, c) wants to engage in commerce, d) creates jobs for others (directly or indirectly), e) adds to the economic growth of the society, etc.; but has one attribute that makes her different, special.
She wants to change the status-quo and that desire is the fuel that causes her to embark on the journey of doing business on her own.
The change could be anything - an improvement in the product or service, a reduction in prices, increase in the value perceived by her customers, making anyone's/someone's life better or bridging a long existing gap. It doesn't matter what it is, just that it needs to change.
So, if you are not changing the status-quo, you are just another business-person - think of another person opening a grocery store in the neighborhood. There's nothing new there. At least, until the first online stores opened up. That guy was an entrepreneur! Everyone else, who just copied his model, didn't change much of anything and hence, in my eyes, is just another business-person.
One-liner: You are an entrepreneur only if you are changing the status-quo, otherwise, you are just another business-person.
I promised myself when I took on the Spark10 Insights project that I will not get into an endless tirades and become a definition nazi, and I so I won't go back on my word. Not yet, at least! But before we move on to my definition of the term, there's one bit of etymological deviation that we must take.
The word "entrepreneur" comes from the French language, in which it means - a businessman (or businessperson, to be gender neutral). And that's it - an entrepreneur is just another business-person.
Nowadays, of course, it doesn't just mean a business-person. It means a lot more. And rightly so! Words and their definitions evolve over time to encompass new meanings and usage based on how the people use it in common parlance. So, what's my take on the meaning of the word 'entrepreneur'? When can you call yourself that?
There's only one thing, in my view, that makes an entrepreneur different from a business-person. In essence, she's everything a business-woman is: a) a risk taker, b) wants to make money, c) wants to engage in commerce, d) creates jobs for others (directly or indirectly), e) adds to the economic growth of the society, etc.; but has one attribute that makes her different, special.
She wants to change the status-quo and that desire is the fuel that causes her to embark on the journey of doing business on her own.
The change could be anything - an improvement in the product or service, a reduction in prices, increase in the value perceived by her customers, making anyone's/someone's life better or bridging a long existing gap. It doesn't matter what it is, just that it needs to change.
So, if you are not changing the status-quo, you are just another business-person - think of another person opening a grocery store in the neighborhood. There's nothing new there. At least, until the first online stores opened up. That guy was an entrepreneur! Everyone else, who just copied his model, didn't change much of anything and hence, in my eyes, is just another business-person.
One-liner: You are an entrepreneur only if you are changing the status-quo, otherwise, you are just another business-person.
No comments:
Post a Comment