In a recent episode of the Simon Sinek podcast called ‘A Bit of Optimism’ he discusses entrepreneurship with Helene and Seth Godin. Simon Sinek points out that the term ‘entrepreneur’ is often used interchangeably with the term ‘small business owner’ yet there are important contrasts.
“Small business owners own small businesses. But Entrepreneurs solve problems. You have entrepreneurs in corporations. They don’t all own small businesses. And not all small business owners are entrepreneurs.”
Seth Godin isn’t quite ready to use the term ‘entrepreneur’ in the context of a someone working in a corporation, as Sinek used it. Instead, he calls these people ‘independent thinking problem solvers’ because the company provides a platform and safety net. Seth discusses the posture of the entrepreneur. Someone who is an optimist. Someone who is motivated by the fear of uncertainty in the pit of their stomach. The highs are much higher and the lows are much lower than you might experience working in a corporation.
Seth describes the entrepreneurial spirit in his wife Helene.
“She always looked at situations where she could contribute and even if there wasn’t an engraved invitation decided to show up and make it a little bit better.”
This sense of initiative gets at the root of entrepreneurship.
I think that it is entirely possible to exhibit entrepreneur qualities even if you work for someone else. Initiative, drive, an ambition for improvement, problem solving skills, and leadership qualities sound like all of the tick boxes recruiters might look for in an employee. Perhaps we can distinguish upper case Entrepreneur (a freelancer or small business owner) from a lower case entrepreneur (an independent thinking problem solver who works for a company).
My father was a small business owner and Entrepreneur. He was a medical lab technician working in a hospital and was convinced that there was a better way to collect samples, conduct testing and provide results for doctors and patients. He started an independent medical lab that eventually served most of the hospitals and medical facilities in the entire county. But that didn’t happen overnight. During the first five years he would often forgo his own salary in order to make payroll. We lived off my mother’s nursing jobs during much of my childhood. He spent many late hours at the lab completing the day’s testing so that doctors would receive results the next day. My parents did their best to protect us from adult problems, but I remember the sense of economic uncertainty and stress that they were under.
I did not want that for my own career. I chose the stability of a teaching career and swore off ever being a small business owner or Entrepreneur. But now I am rethinking this idea. It turns out, I inherited some of the entrepreneurial spirit after all. I am a lower case entrepreneur, to be sure. I have always looked at situations where I could contribute and make things a little bit better, even without an invitation to do so. Now I have an opportunity to become an upper case Entrepreneur and I can definitely feel that pit in my stomach.
(episode 6. Entrepreneurship with Helene and Seth Godin. Monday, July 6, 2020.
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