Why do entrepreneurs exist?
Lord (Baron) Sugar’s father never really understood who was going to give his son a paycheque at the end of each month. That apparently worried Mr. Sugar Senior for many years. His son had no such concerns. Or, if he did, he carried them lightly.
Those who shun working for someone else march to a different drum. And society generally benefits as a result. Some entrepreneurs are virtually unemployable by anyone else. But most are energetic, optimistic risk-takers, who are passionate about what they do and are often not really in it for the money.
I well recall one client saying: ‘I don’t ever fail. I just keep learning new ways how not to succeed.’ Whilst I admired his optimism, I was always concerned by how often he kept repeating this same mantra.
In my experience, successful entrepreneurs have an endless curiosity to do things differently, and a determination not to take ‘no’ for an answer.
‘Why?’ is probably their favorite question. ‘Why does it have to be done like this? Why can’t we do it differently?’ Their curiosity is often met with rebuffs along the lines of: ‘because we have always done it that way.’ Or, ‘no you can’t do that here.’
It’s the persistence of these people that pays off. Walt Disney was fired for lacking imagination and moved on. JK Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers before she found an editor who believed in her. And Decca Records famously said ‘no’ to the Beatles. Animators, authors, and musicians are entrepreneurs too. What they all had in common was a determination to do their own thing, and a refusal to accept the rejection of others.
It is said that if we don’t fail at something, we probably haven’t been trying - surely that’s a failure in itself? And, anyway, who wants to spend their whole life in the twilight zone?
Without entrepreneurs, we wouldn’t have innovation. If we didn’t have innovation, we wouldn’t have an investment. If we didn’t have an investment, we wouldn’t have new jobs. And if we didn’t have new jobs, we wouldn’t have taxes to pay for public services.
Britain is a more entrepreneurial nation than it was maybe 40 years ago. But our entrepreneurs are often still thought of as oddballs - disruptors; people who disturb the status quo; members of the awkward squad, etc.
I keep taking my hat off to them all. Business is the goose that lays the golden egg and successful businesses create a rising tide of prosperity.
History shows that Lord Sugar’s confidence in himself has paid dividends - and not just financially. The Mighty Baron started off selling car aerials and cigarette lighters. His curiosity took him into consumer electronics, computers, owning Spurs and, latterly politics and tv. When people said ‘no,’ to him, he said ‘why not?’
There’s a lesson there for us all.
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