# What an entrepreneur is

Entrepreneur is a French word literally translated as someone who "enters into [an undertaking](socialrisk.md)" into business for themselves.

- They *must* take legitimate [risks](socialrisk.md) to advance their [organization](groups-small.md).
- A small business requires the same amount of consistent, steady maintenance as a [baby](parenting-babies.md).

Outside of [parenting](parenting-children.md), a small business is the largest personal sacrifice a person can ever make.

- The sacrifice will require at least four years of obsessive devotion, with the possibility of *decades* of extra work, up to and possibly after retirement.

## Disposition

Almost everyone is capable of being an entrepreneur, but not everyone has the [personality](personality.md) that they'd *enjoy* it:

- Since they'll likely have to do a little of [*all* the business skills](business.md), they must have a high enough Openness to Experience to learn domains like [taxes](money-accounting.md), researching [regulations](legal-doctrines.md), and negotiating with a [supplier](logistics.md), as well as the willingness to take every variety of risk.
- They must be Conscientious enough to make sacrifices, [productively get work done](success-4_routine.md) *before* it must be done, and [pay bills on time](money-3_budget.md), but not so much that they're a perfectionist.
- While it varies on the industry, they must be Extraverted enough to steadily, consistently [connect](language-speaking.md) with dozens to hundreds of strangers.
- They must be low-enough Agreeableness to both [negotiate better prices](people-conflicts-negotiation.md) and resist the [conflicts](people-conflicts.md) they create from disregarding [social fashions](trends.md), *especially* against [large-scale systems](mgmt-badsystems.md) who will suppress their [rise to power](power.md).
- Their Neuroticism must be high enough to [make creative connections](mind-creativity.md), but not enough that it interferes with their ability to get work done.

They also must be stubborn enough to indefinitely face [criticism](people-5_conflicts.md), [failure](success-1_why.md), [obstacles](success-5_persevering.md), and the ever-present [unknown](unknown.md).

- It's practically a requirement to adopt an abnormally high tolerance for [social risks](socialrisk.md).
- They'll need to constantly seek out guidance from mentors and associates.
- Typically, they'll have a natural ability to see strengths where most people see weaknesses.

Most of them are inherently curious.

- They tend to ask probing and profound [questions](understanding.md), even seemingly stupid ones, about absolutely everything.
- Typically, they're trying to find [creative](mind-creativity.md) ways to [break existing norms](morality-taboo.md).

However, unlike [philosophers](philosophy.md) or [educators](education.md), they're also extremely practical.

- That practical approach means they're typically antagonistic toward [bureaucracy](bureaucracy.md) and [large systems](groups-large.md).
- They're fixated more on currently available resources than building large-scale systems.
- Many of them will have a strange enjoyment out of finding ways to overcome, minimize or calculate [risks](safety-riskmgmt.md).

Finally, they generally must be humble enough to accept what they don't know.

- If they're older, they'll need to follow the trends that younger people adopt, meaning they'll have to change their ways.
- If they're younger, they'll need to take the experience and wisdom of older generations.
- They'll have to touch *many* [specialized domains](jobs-specialization.md), so they'll need to learn when they must simply trust [professionals](professionals.md).

## Skills

They'll have to learn a wide variety of disciplines where they had had zero experience.

- While they can delegate some things (e.g., [lawyer](glossary-legal.md) or [accountant](money-accounting.md)), the beginning stages of their business will require them to [understand](understanding.md) at least a general working concept of most parts of their organization.

Determination - more than anything else, they must be focused.

- They will face against a plethora of opposition, ranging from existential (e.g., friends who don't think they'll succeed) to practical (e.g., much larger companies begin competing with them).
- That determination, over time, will express as a type of relentlessness toward what they want.

Flexibility - against determination, they must be able to adapt.

- Relentlessness alone isn't useful, and they'll get shut down quickly if they don't pivot to where the opportunities are sitting.
- Success porn like "don't give up on your dreams" is foolish, since they'll have to modify their dreams at a moment's notice.

Imagination - they must be able to think [creatively](mind-creativity-how.md).

- Intelligence counts because it defines how easily they can [think of new ideas](mind-creativity.md).
- In many circles, their cleverness will be seen as mild insanity.

Deviance - they need to have a rebellious streak.

- While they do care about [morality](morality.md), they don't care as much about [social standards](people-rules.md).

Friendship - it's a *huge* advantage if they know [how to get along with others](people-3_boundaries.md).

- Their ability to coexist and work together becomes *much* more significant once they have partners.
- Irrespective of their social skills, an entrepreneur will be preoccupied with how they can fulfill others' needs.
- Many of them are also [natural leaders](mgmt-1_why.md), even if nobody follows them.

Independence - they'll have to do almost everything themselves, at least at first.

- Paying others for what you can do yourself will impede your ability to make a profit.
- Building a business from the ground up requires a *lot* of toil, and is a dramatic exercise in [self-improvement](https://adequate.life/habits/) from all angles.

## Purpose

Some motivations *can't* sustain an entrepreneur's drive:

- If someone severely resents working for an employer, they'll resent working with clients and will often alienate potential opportunities.
- The desire to simply become rich is ill-placed in entrepreneurship, since most entrepreneurs are paid *less* than employees who do almost the same job.
- Wanting to please someone else won't work, since starting a business is *not* an easy decision.

In general, self-employment is *not* as high-paying as an employee equivalent.

- When you work as an employee, you're typically in a *much* more [specialized role](jobs-specialization.md), meaning people are generally more inclined to pay you more for that work.
- You also don't have to think about unrelated domains to your work (e.g., [accounting](money-accounting.md), [management](mgmt-1_why.md), [sales](marketing.md)).

An entrepreneur must be driven by a self-determined [purpose](purpose.md) to achieve.

- They typically have plenty of confidence in their skills.
- They have to find [meaning](meaning.md) in their work, even when it's completely unrelated to making money.

Entrepreneurs typically succeed when they want to build a community.

- To accomplish the wide variety of tasks they'll need to do, they will *need* to foster community with other people.
- The prevalence of social interaction means they'll have to find at least some [meaning](meaning.md) from working with others.

## Lifestyle

The disposition of an entrepreneur means they tend to have a few lifestyle elements in common:

- Loves [sports](fun-sports.md), especially team or extreme sports.
- Loves [traveling](fun-vacations.md) to original, exotic places.
- Typically [self-taught](understanding.md), but often not much [college education](jobs-college.md).
- Often obsessively focused on whatever task they're performing.
- Spends their free time [learning](education.md), [absorbing information](understanding.md), or [mastering a fun skill](fun.md).

For several reasons, entrepreneurs are typically [young](maturity.md).

- They have fewer commitments, and therefore less to [risk](safety-riskmgmt.md) to the [unknown](unknown.md).
- They're typically not bitter about most of society's [large systems](mgmt-badsystems.md).
- Their mind is more prone to entertaining silly things that may become a good [business idea](entrepreneur-2_idea.md).
- They'll have more enthusiasm toward a new idea from a general lack of awareness over future risks.

They typically won't be inclined toward creature comforts and luxuries.

- They won't be fixated on money as much as what more money can *do* for them.
- In the formative phases of a small organization, even [small expenses](money-saving.md) can ruin its [financial health](money-accounting.md).

Many disciplines parallel an entrepreneur's, and most of them typically visit at least some of them:

- [Creative](mind-creativity.md) performance fields like musicians and actors.
- Professional [writers](language-writing.md), especially fiction writers.
- [Media](stories-storytellers.md) professionals and [public speakers](language-speaking.md).
- [Leaders](mgmt-1_why.md) in nonprofit organizations or churches.
- [Homeschooling](education-homeschool.md) [parents](parenting-children.md).