INSIGHTS ON LIFE

Can Everyone Be An Entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurship is one of the mantra of the modern world and millions of individuals are religious about it. The motivation behind every entrepreneurial drive is the desire to break away from ‘labor slavery’ to a person or organization and the desire to pursue a personal ambition for fortune.

But, can everyone be an entrepreneur?

No. Everyone cannot be entrepreneurs. This answer is simple, commonsensical, and incontestable. Everybody cannot be entrepreneurs, everybody cannot be heads of corporations, and everybody cannot run businesses and industries. Ignorance of this fact as led individuals into taking misguided decisions as regards their work and life pursuit. They abandon jobs they should remain and grow in and then set out on a business they fail in months later. When they return to nothing, they fault it on something other than themselves.

Entrepreneurship is not for everybody! It is for a few. The few who control businesses and employ labors are not superior to others except that they are the ones who organize a business and bring people in to create products and services that meet needs. They might have more knowledge and know-hows and possess strong leadership abilities, but are naturally human like those they employ.

Everyone is composed of different temperament and level of intelligence. Everyone has a different way of looking at the world. One person sees the world as a playground. Another sees it as a marketplace. Another sees it as a school. Another sees it as a prison. And yet another sees it as a grave yard. Your worldview determines how you play out your role on it. It determines how you strive for money and the risk and sacrifices you’re capable of making. And even if you’re a superman, entrepreneurship might not be your way to go about building wealth.

There is a single reason why new businesses spring up and it is the need to solve needs. Businesses come into existence to solve one of many personal and social needs. Without solving needs, businesses can’t be in business. The requirements to start up a business to solve needs can be much and can frustrate the start-up entrepreneur. Running a business also can demand so much as to pack up a business. But the needs are still there to be solved!

Everyone cannot be entrepreneurs but everyone can be creators, everyone can be innovators, everyone can be problem solvers. You do not need to set up an enterprise and employ labors to solve problems. If you can succeed at a start-up, do. If you can’t, sell ideas. Everyone can create and sell ideas. You can sell ideas to businesses that have the means to mass produce. You can sell ideas to individuals on a personal basis. You can sell ideas without setting up a shop or company. You can sell ideas to the company you work with. There are varieties of ways and strategies to make money with ideas without begging the bank for loans to start-up. The issue here is that people can’t generate ideas. People do not know how to create things, how to employ their mental resources to bring things out of nothing. But once you can conceive, birth and sell ideas, your life will make more meaning to you.

Victor Negro is based in Lagos. He writes on matters of life and existence as he thinks, preferring better understanding of common questions.