Entrepreneurship: A Millennial Definition

What is entrepreneurship? Well, The word entrepreneurship has easily been one of the most sought after lifestyles in modern history. Some people think that entrepreneurship automatically brings a life of lavish things, constant travel/exploration, internet fame, dating supermodels, and short working hours. But before you get all of these “things,” you just have to quit your job, sacrifice a few years of your life, and POOF. You get it all!

So, what are you waiting for? Go on and quit that job of yours. DO IT! It’s what you want, isn’t it?

Well, before you do all of that, I suggest learning more about the word entrepreneur. What is entrepreneurship and what does it truly mean? This article is a collection of thoughts that I have compiled into one beautiful love letter to the one word that has somewhat defined my life; entrepreneurship.

Let’s start with the basics

The business dictionary and most overused definition of entrepreneurship are defined as: “The capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit.”

Now that we have the fundamental definition of what is entrepreneurship, we can further expand on the initial foundation. Like everything else, entrepreneurship is a journey. As Robert Frost eloquently uses a phrase in his poem “The Road Not Taken”:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Entrepreneurship’s journey can be summarized in three particular phases:

Phase 1: Buzzwords

As a millennial, we can be easily influenced by outside internet celebrities. Famous figures like Gary Vaynerchuk, Tai Lopez, Grant Cardone, Lewis Howes, and John Lee Dumas. (Just to name a few) You watch their content on social media religiously, read about how they were able to become successful, and then begin to envision a life that is nearly identical or rather similar to theirs. You become so inspired that you begin creating content for your own social media platforms with cheesy motivational quotes from entrepreneurs of the past or worse, pictures of yourself with quotes said by you and then signed by you. As if you’ve accomplished something.

SIDE NOTE: Think about it. How many people do you know that not only posts a ton of motivational quotes but have added their own personal signature within the social media posts? We can thank Gary Vay-Ner-Chuck for this one.

The New Meaning of Entrepreneurship

The definition of entrepreneurship no longer has the same meaning. Currently, the definition of entrepreneurship is a person dealing with an egotistical battle of attention and primarily focuses on their own success and not the success of their team. A lonely journey of one’s self-validation.

At the beginning of your entrepreneurship journey, it’s easy to get lost in the world of business and it’s fun to fantasize about one’s self-success. We as a society are obsessed with it. Early on, identify the things that you most want in life. Is it fame? (And if it is, that’s totally cool. Just accept it and embrace it.)

Do you want to bring change in the world? Do you want to run a successful company?

Phase 2: Finding Yourself and Obtaining Balance

Understanding your why or at the very least having a general understanding of why you’re willing to be as crazy as you are, to quit your job to do the thing you love, is critical to one’s success. This fundamental understanding will allow you the ability to motivate yourself when times get tough and you feel like quitting.

Entrepreneurship is not fun. The highs are high (so high in fact) but the lows are depressingly low. It’s a constant roller coaster ride filled with non-stop ups and downs, twists and turns stop and goes. Strangely enough, those emotions will all be experienced in the first minute of your day. Your mind tends to wonder, you feel excited, trying to further expand on your initial ideas from your meeting today, thinking about what you may have done wrong to get that new client, or even experiencing the success of obtaining a new client! (If so, congrats!)

At the beginning of your entrepreneurship career, it’s important to understand yourself and the need for balance.

Balance

No one ever truly knows oneself in the earlier stages in life and especially their career. But what is important is to have empathy. Not only for your peers but also for yourself. It’s ok to fail. It’s ok to not be where you want to be, but be cognizant that one day, you will get to where you want to be.

Next is balance. It is so darn easy to work 20 plus hours a day. I still do it sometimes. But you need to find a way to let go of the computer and walk away from the work. Even if it’s for just an afternoon. Find a hobby, fall in love with something other than work, and find a way to be romantic to yourself. Your own mental well being will give you the superpowers to achieve your goals.

Phase 3: Execution and Persistence 

The last piece of the puzzle and quite frankly, the most important part of entrepreneurship. You now have at least a few ideas as to what is entrepreneurship to a millennial.

Execution and persistence are the hardest of the three phases. It requires the most refining and also the most amount of attention. If I could do it all over again, (and there is no way that I would want to, because it led me to this moment of my life) I would be more data-driven. Passion can only get you so far, but there will come a point and time in the entrepreneurship journey that you need to go off of numbers, analytics, and raw data.

Being a more numbers driven organization will give you the know how to expand in the future. It will also give you the understanding of how you and your team may not have been executing. The best part about plans is that they change. But without the proper data and numbers, it’s almost impossible to make an educated decision to pivot or shift your company without having that information. If you feel the need to learn more about entrepreneurship and want is entrepreneurship to other millennials, you can get advice from other millennials here. Written by a colleague of mine that influenced and inspired this article. learn what others

Tips for The Entrepreneur Mind

• Have A General Understanding Of Your Mission And Why: It’s ok if you do not have it all figured out. However, there is a general theme of what you believe in as a person. If you don’t have the next 25 years figured out to a “T’ it’s ok. Jot whatever comes to mind in your head on paper and get it out there throughout the universe.
• Treat Your Company Like A Sports Team And Not A Family: I learned this from Tim Ferris’ podcast with Reid Hoffman. Check it out.
• Show Empathy: Don’t be a robotic D-Bag. Give a crap about others.

Tips For The Entrepreneur At Home

• Read Books And A Lot Of Them: I compiled a list of entrepreneur resources on my podcast that has a list of the most influential books that I have personally read. Head over to a Barnes and Noble and pick out books to read. There is a reason those books are located in that store. They are trusted, edited, and have the reputation of a quality story teller. My rule of thumb is that if it’s in a B&N and has been recommended for me to read, then it’s a book I need to read.
• Stop Reading And Watching Content From Untrusted Or Unverified Resources/Publications: The amount of articles that are available online (especially this one) can completely derail or disrupt your day. Do not become easily influenced by content. Stay true to yourself and your mission.
• Leave Your Ego At Home: You are not bigger than anyone else on your team and you are certainly not bigger than your company. Don’t be comfortable with being the CEO of your company. Early on in your startup, a title is just a title. You can be called manager or even janitor, but what truly matter is does your team listen and follow your vision.
• Understand Your Strengths And Go ALL In Once You Find Out What They Are: Once you have a general understanding of your strengths, then find out what your weaknesses are. Then hire individuals that can help fill that area.

Tips For The Entrepreneur At Work

• Understand Your Strengths And Go ALL In Once You Find Out What They Are: Once you have a general understanding of your strengths, then find out what your weaknesses are. Then hire individuals that can help fill that area.
• Get Mentors: This doesn’t have to be physical mentors, but instead you can listen to success and failure stories from top story tellers. For me, I decided to create my own podcast. My goal in creating the podcast was to learn from others’ mistakes and failures. The podcast has been the single greatest hobby that I have started to date. The amount of knowledge and the incredible people that I have become friends with has been life changing.
• Speak Last And Listen Often: The truth of that matter is that your opinions and how you feel don’t matter. The only thing that matters is morale of your company and the livelihood of those around you. Put yourself last and be the ready you read about online.

Now, go out there and do what you’ve been born to do. The fact is that if you’ve read this far, I haven’t told you anything you did not already know. But to those who have read until the end, good luck.