In the programs we facilitate, we keep asking, “What is an Entrepreneur?”

Typical responses include:

1. Someone who risks everything

2. Someone who sees an opportunity to solve a problem

3. Someone who owns a business

4. Someone who puts payroll on a credit card

5. Someone who has slept on a friend’s couch

The answers were almost identical in every country or region I’ve visited. For the most part, people think of entrepreneurs in a certain way. Not that it is wrong, but I’d like to broaden that perspective.

An entrepreneur, from my perspective — and that of many educators in the entrepreneurship space — has a specific mindset. Here I mean how they think of things, how they look at a problem and find a solution, how they look for an opportunity that could improve things for the community in which they live and work.

This is important because the entrepreneurship mindset can be deployed in an employment perspective, in starting a business, in working as a team, and in many other settings. The entrepreneurial mindset is all about asking the question: what problem am I solving, or what opportunity am I creating?

All the other stuff people said was more about what someone decides to do with that information. There is a big difference between starting a business and running a business, and of course, between being an entrepreneur and a business owner.

You could be an entrepreneur and a small business owner, or a CEO of a large corporation. The Mindset is what makes the difference.

BEFORE YOU GO:

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. What is your definition of an entrepreneur?

2. What problem-solving ideas can you put to use in your community?

3. What other tips might you have for potential entrepreneurs?

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