I watched a video clip yesterday that got me thinking about my own past and how I was growing up.
From as early as I can remember I have always done my own thing. When I was a kid I had garage sales every weekend trying to sell my parents junk. I could go on and on with examples over the years.
I have never enjoyed school or being told what to do. I never was an ‘A’ student but I did just enough to get by and get it over with.
It’s funny when I look back at high school because I pretty much scraped by on most courses until my very last semester. I had somehow worked it out that I only had four classes to complete that semester and graduate and every single one was a business course, all with the same teacher. I gotta say I still slacked off in those courses but I managed to get straight A’s in all of them without much work. I think the reason for that is they were classes I was actually interested in.
Growing up were told the next step is to go to college or university. When I graduated high school I went straight to college for a degree in Business Administration. I didn’t attend many of my classes and partied pretty much daily while also working on building websites. Long story short I dropped out 2 years later with a certificate in “college exploration”, I am not joking that’s what it said. My parents were not pleased.
I was still figuring out online marketing and trying to make my own income. At this point I had been building websites for years without monetizing them because at the time it was more of a hobby. I wasn’t sure where I was heading or what my plan was but I have known since I was a child that I always wanted to work for myself. So with little money left to my name I got a job at a small steel distributor. It was literally just the manager and I was the only employee. It was a crappy job but the guy I worked with made it enjoyable and is now one of my good friends. After about a year in at this job it really dawned on me that I did not want to do this for the rest of my life. It fired me up to really start making some good money and that’s when my online business took off. I ended up staying with the company for probably 6 months longer than I wanted to purely because if I had left earlier they would be really screwed.
I believe anyone could be an entrepreneur but it really takes that drive and ambition. Most people are fine with being an employee and that is perfectly okay, if there weren’t employees who would we hire?
Do you believe entrepreneurs are born and if so do you feel you were?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article man and YES I totally believe entrepreneurs are born. Not many people that you talk to will want to start up their own business rather they will want to work for you if you have your own business. And a lot of people are so lazy to handle a whole business which make them prefer sticking to being the employee.
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Possibly, but doubtful. It depends on the situation you grew up in, your demands/needs, and your natural self motivation. I personally went to school, went college, studied engineering, and did quite well, yet right when I graduated I started my own business. The freedom of an online business is too good to pass up.
However, I do agree that the way we are raised puts us into the working class. The people who think outside the box and are willing to take a risk are the people who tend to be more free throughout their life, and don’t work purely for money.
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Do you ever wonder how some of America’s richest men came to be? I’m talking about names like Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and Rockefeller. They were all born poor. They all died wealthy men. Your childhood plays a large role in who you become as an adult. When your a poor kid that can’t afford the latest Xbox or have the brand name clothes, you find ways of acquiring it. Especially when you have to go to school everyday with a bunch of middle class, white kids that are handed everything.
I was born poor. I will die wealthy.
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The ambition and motivation to be entrepreneurs are born. That isn’t just ingrained in DNA, however. It also has to do with the situations that you were born with, including financial hardship and social hardship. I’ve been through both, and I think that’s one of the reasons I can work and be truly motivated day after day.
-Tom
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I honestly think that everyone is born with entrepreneurial talent, but many of our parents, teachers, bosses, friends and even our government tend to crush entrepreneurship. Fear is the only enemy to entrepreneurship… and fear is something that we’re educated and exposed to throughout our lives.
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Yes, I believe Entrepreneurship is born in most people. Good article, thanks
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I don’t think it is born in people. I think it is something anyone can develop given the environment they are in and the opportunities they come across. But I also do think it is a trait that can be passed down through genes. (Take a look at this video that explains epigenetics here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1bZEUgqVI )
Coming from a family that owns their own businesses, I definitely have entrepreneurial blood in my DNA.
For me, I grew up with a very easy laid back life. My family wasn’t super rich, but we were middle class, which means I got to have a fairly cushy life as a kid. Everything in life came easy to me. Sometime when I was 16 I learned that people can work for themselves on their own terms. That thought never went away so now I am serious about building my business in Internet marketing. I’m still struggling, but that is purely my fault due to bad habits I developed over my life.
Also, I agree with 3 about fear. That’s what holds us back the most. We get taught to be scared. Kids are usually fearless until they get taught what they should be scared of. Fear holds me back the most. I know it’s irrational, but I can’t shake my fear off that easily.
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Sam Kenwick Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 2:14 am
Are entrepreneurs born? I think that some people are naturally gifted in business and have the ability to succeed naturally. So yes, I think entrepreneurs are born, but I also think that circumstances and natural ability have everything to do with it. I know that I’m personally one of a kind. I type at 61 wpm, my grandma lived to be a whopping 94 years old, I have a gifted intelligence quotient, and I really enjoy helping people succeed that can love and nurture my talents. I love to write and it’s something I’m really good at. I love how emotion plays out in the pages of a novel, how a book can suck you into the content and really intrigue your imagination. Sometimes I think that God created some of us different in order to serve a higher purpose. I really believe that. I think that if you are naturally gifted then people will find those talents and help you develop them to serve that higher purpose.
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The ambition and motivation to be entrepreneurs are born. That isn’t just ingrained in DNA, however. It also has to do with the situations that you were born with, including financial hardship and social hardship. I’ve been through both, and I think that’s one of the reasons I can work and be truly motivated day after day.
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