The Year of the Entrepreneur

entrepreneur – “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk”

from dictionary.com

Last week I made a bold suggestion: I believe 2010 should be the Year of the Entrepreneur.  Why do I feel this so strongly?

I believe that many of the financial models and systems we’ve relied on in the past aren’t going to work well for us anymore. I doubt that banks and corporations will provide positive support for the future lives and livelihoods of the people of America.  It’s time for us to let go of “business as usual”.  We can’t linger over what we’ve lost or the way it used to be before this Great Recession.  Life will never be the same again.  Let’s move on, reinvent ourselves, and learn and embrace some new skills.

I believe strongly that the best model for personal and financial success is the way of the entrepreneur.  Becoming an entrepreneur is both financially smart and emotionally smart.  Being an entrepreneur draws on your creative juices and forces you to think on your feet in new ways.  It forces you to continually develop new skills and new ways to build your business.

Entrepreneurs are constantly on the lookout for emerging business opportunities and new needs starting to show themselves in the culture that they can build businesses around.  The best entrepreneurs work not only to build their own businesses and financial security; they also focus on finding ways to serve the very human needs of their communities that aren’t exploitive, opportunistic, or greedy.  The self-serving approach to doing business, so widespread until recently, must become a thing of the past.

Being an entrepreneur gives you more opportunity to grow personally than when you work for someone else.  It forces you to take more responsibility for the outcome of your business.  No one will be there to do your work for you, or tell you what to do.  You can and should gather expert advice and information, but ultimately only you will shape your own direction and goals.

Becoming an entrepreneur will help you rediscover the capabilities and qualities about yourself that you may have forgotten.  You will begin to explore – truly, it’s an adventure – and find the parts of yourself you lost while working for others.  You will be challenged to harness your strength and courage to overcome your fears of the unknown.

Issues of faith and trust will become paramount.  Being an entrepreneur will force you to examine where you really place your faith and trust, and where you don’t.  When you discover an area where you don’t have faith and trust, such as in your own abilities as an innovator or leader, that’s the area you need to go to within yourself to develop new skills and directions for your life.

This year, 2010, this moment, is a great time to embrace entrepreneurship.  I can’t recommend strongly enough how valuable it is to pursue.  Even if you work for someone else, you can take a more entrepreneurial approach to your job and your life.  Explore your options, study your opportunities, pay attention to your dreams.  Don’t be afraid to dream BIG.

Go out into the world determined to grow and make a difference.  Do well for yourself while doing good for others.  Believe in yourself.  Make this your year.

Next week: A practical illustration – the entrepreneurial actions I’m taking right now.