Entrepreneurs are bad, entrepreneurs are evil, the boss is a bad guy, without me the business cannot be in the current spot. Do you know these statements? As an ex-Soviet Union country, where communism was very strongly rooted in our culture I grew up with a poor mentality.
Why!? Because after ‘89, in Romania communism was destroyed and we saw the light of democracy. That came out with capitalism, so we were allowed to grow our own businesses. But we had no legislation, no idea how to do it, no examples. What do we do?! Smuggling. It was so simple, buy from outside crappy things and sell them inside. And it worked for a lot of people.
This behavior turned out some entrepreneurs into scammers, who bought cheap and sell expensive, by exploiting the other side of the coin, the people who have not so much luck or balls to start their own business. These people usually were exploited so the picture of entrepreneurs was outlined: entrepreneurs are bad, entrepreneurs are evil.
Starting my own business makes me understand that adding a general label over a category of people comes from my roots, and was indoctrinated by people around me with statements that blocked me to see the benefits of being an entrepreneur.
Are entrepreneurs bad?
Are entrepreneurs bad, a closed case? Sure not, as everywhere and forever there are good people and bad people, there are good entrepreneurs and bad entrepreneurs. It is up to the person behind the entrepreneur how they would like to act as.
Having this said, entrepreneurs are not bad people, but there are exceptions. There are for sure evil people who exploit their employees and it can be visible on profile websites such as Glassdoor, here is top list made by MoneyWise about Worker Beware: These Are the 22 Worst Companies to Work For.
Entrepreneurs must be smart
As an entrepreneur, I discovered that you have to be smart because if you’re not, your life is tough. You need to be good at math or at least excel, or at least to use a pocket computer. You need to understand how to manage a team and how to organize stuff, optimize some processes, or learn from others that are smarter than you. Actually this last statement I think is something definitory for this industry, you should not be selfish and listen more. But here is a big one, you need to be smart enough and differentiate what’s good and what is bad. Basically, you need a vision.
You must read a lot because being smart means not being stupid. (do you like my logic, here, right?!) It doesn’t mean you have to read a lot of books, but if you’d like to I have an article What books to read, it means that you need to be informed about business, marketing, sales, legal & others. You have people to work with, but in the end, you’re the one who needs to be fulfilled. Don’t get me wrong, is not about you, but is about decisions, and being prepared for the future
Entrepreneurs take risks
Do you know how’s to be an employee? Probably most of us know, but for those who don’t, I tell you, most jobs are chill compared to having an entrepreneurial life. Why?! Because usually, if you’re not an employee that has a C-level position, you don’t take risks. In the bad case, you do something bad and the boss will talk with you about the effects of your decision, but the one who pays (not necessary money), it can be users, time, legal stuff is the entrepreneur.
You probably read all these articles and think: Why this guy makes a victim / idolize entrepreneurs?! Is not like that, as I started there are good and bad all over. It just that, now, is me evolving and understanding that I criticize some people, only because I had a poor mentality.
