Entrepreneurs are agents of change in society. They do not leave the world the same place that they inherited. The complexity of the entrepreneurial process often transforms the individual, redefines the world view they had, and, in the process, begins influencing the world. As an entrepreneur, there are many integrated roles that the same individual carries. In essence, we see at least three of them that can often cloud our thinking about entrepreneurship.
As an Activist: Entrepreneurs carry their worldview into the venture they are creating. Their preferences about how things should be and how it should be executed, often guide their venture building. However, the process of venture building is not a unitary exercise of the individual and necessarily involves other individuals to commit to the venture creation process. When your individual opinion does not get appreciated muster in the negotiation process, it is likely for this to be a very personal setback and we begin to resent the ways of the world. This could easily become dominant, and the activist hidden in the entrepreneur takes centre stage, and the venture building persona takes a back seat.
As a Philosopher: Entrepreneurs engage in decision making on an almost a continuous basis. The never-ending tunnel of decisions to be made could get taxing on the mind, thereby clouding the usual thinking. Most entrepreneurs, at this point, begin searching for answers in philosophy to guide their decision making. While these philosophical escapades are a useful guide, they could also be completely numbing if you do not learn to move from thinking to actions to resolve your deadlocks. Watch your thoughts.
As a business person: Entrepreneurs indeed pursue opportunities. It is very easy to create a business with an opportunity when it exists for the taking. However, once you have set up the business, we often try to extract more value out of the venture than we are creating through it. In this sense, the business-man logic could take over the entrepreneurial logic in the venture. If you take out more than what you are creating, the venture may not be viable; people may lose trust in your business and even worse, in you as an individual. Watch out on overgrazing the pasture. You must keep a healthy balance.
While an individual must don multiple hats in dealing with the uncertainties of the entrepreneurial journey and building a venture, we have to watch out for the hats themselves engulfing the entrepreneur in you.
Ask yourself:
What is my goal as an entrepreneur?
What alternate roles would complement my entrepreneurial role?
Are these alternate roles taking over the entrepreneur in me? Am I tending to become an activist, a businessman or a philosopher? Am I losing sight of what I want as an entrepreneur from this journey?