By Ryan Connolly.
It is a wondrous thing living on the edge of success. With all your skills, knowledge and experience that final hurdle it just out of reach, not for a lack of trying. Ambition can be a dangerous thing.
Oscar Wilde once said the only way to truly find and test reality is to put it on a tight rope. This is the life of an entrepreneur. The risk and the euphoria hand in hand at every stage.
This young entrepreneur has been on this ‘edge’ for a number of years now, having successfully started 5 different businesses while developing countless others within iCUE business society. And yet none of these ideas have been as prolific as the initial enthusiasm suggested.
I would not begin to claim I was not part of these faults at times, lethargy is a killer. A wise businessman once told me if you think something will take 1 month in business it will take 6. I didn’t believe it at the time but after a few more years of experience I take it to be gospel.
I have been asked to write this little piece not to offer some great insight into a successful business venture but perhaps merely to explain how or why I survive at this level. My many business projects have all brought varying degrees of success, nothing to retire on quite yet though. I have seen so many friends and colleagues move on, and rightly so in many cases, and yet I persevere even when offered what some might call the dream job.
The reason I have an overwhelming urge to make it on my own isn’t the pursuit of riches or fame like many would believe but for me it is the lifestyle I crave. Work 18 hour days for 3 months then fly off for a month’s break. Not appealing to most but it is perfection for me. It matches my ability to work at full capacity while sustaining interest.
So the question I entreat to you is what makes an entrepreneur? Why work on pennies for years just in the hope that one day an idea will become a working business? Why persevere?
For my part, it is my arrogance that it is not a matter of ‘if’ but when I make it. This keeps me going. It keeps me strong. And more importantly it makes me happy. Every negative as well as positive is an experience that I learn from and hence can never get me down.
So that is me. What about the rest of the entrepreneurs out there?
StartupCafe 
Thanks for an excellent posting – What makes an Entrepreneur?
My company http://www.entrepreneur.me.uk is working with young people all over the UK encouraging entrepreneurship – but what is it?
Is it simply about teaching the mechanics of business? – ie busines plannning, marketing strategies, financial management, human resources etc that are all vital areas when one is running a business large or small and all important areas to be learned indeed the the lack of knowledge in these areas will hinder a business start up or limit business growth.
However I dont think so– entrepreneurs are a different type of person with mindsets that are different (positive and negative)
Entrepreneurs have a Can Do attitude – they tend to be Ambitious people who want to make a difference and want to make things happen – they are risk takers though recent research says very much calculated risk takers – and above all have great self belief to give it a go.
Finally of course us entrepreneurs persist persist persist – we never give up and sometimes can be bloody minded in the pursuit of our goals.
Thanks for asking – Best wishes
Matt
For me it’s a combination of two factors:
1) A strong urge to make something that should exist that doesn’t. The things I get angry about are the things I want to change. For example, my first company was founded on the principle that online communities within education were being co-opted and stifled by business interests. I have a strong preference for tackling freedom of speech and similar social issues through private enterprise. It’s what keeps me passionate.
2) Lifestyle. I don’t have the same lifestyle needs that you describe, but I love being able to work from anywhere and dictate the terms of my own employment. The social issues creep in here too: when I hire, I don’t have to deal with corporate HR, and I can make sure people are dealt with fairly. Just like I get to make products that I think need to exist, I can create what I think a company should be. That’s an exciting feeling.
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