The two Decisions that Make You an Entrepreneur

There are essentially a couple of decisions that make you an entrepreneur. There are of course other requirements: business ideas, personal aptitudes, willingness to order life in a different way, fiery desire, vision, competitive inclination, strategic prowess, powerful confidence, etc., but in terms of decisions, they are fundamentally two.

Two factors make a person an entrepreneur. Or put another way, they give it the title that distinguishes it. They are two decisions that depend on the courage and the size of the character:

1. The decision to “jump into the pool” and,

2. The decision to “burn ships” once the above is done.

These are the two decisions that make you an entrepreneur.

For the sake of neatness, it would be appropriate to say that the first is the decision to do it, and the second is to dedicate oneself exclusively to it. But neatness in this case does not help. There is no simple way to describe the extended nature of these two decisions.

The “academic terms” may nominally address the fact, but are unable to convey the experience inherent in these decisions. And even less the fundamental synergy that exists between the two.

If the person does not jump into the “pool” where the concerns and ideas of the venture are found, it NEVER becomes a reality. And on the other hand, without the decision to stay there, facing setbacks and troubles until reaching the objectives, it is NEVER perfected.

An entrepreneur functions as such in a sustained way over time.

The circumstantial does not represent something different for him than what it means for an employee. In other words, it does NOT define it. If the employee has favorable or adverse circumstances in his work, this does not mean that he ceases to be an employee. The same applies to the entrepreneur.

It is interesting to analyze how these decisions to become an entrepreneur are completely different when it comes to employment. In the latter case, the definition costs less. It lacks the concerns, fears, and hesitations that typify the former. The act of deciding on a job is less emotional, the steps are taken based on more elementary considerations.

The fundamentals that make both decisions different are eminently psychological. The average person associates employment with higher levels of security. In this there is no technical foundation, it is a mental association. The statistics are clear in this regard: there are fewer people who undertake than those who take refuge in a job. The ratio is at least 1 to 20.

This reaffirms a natural tendency of the human brain: it privileges security over freedom. At least while the latter is not in intolerable limits.

No one can affirm, on a rational basis, that entrepreneurship ends up providing less security than employment, in reality, this can be even philosophically inverse, as the “security” provided by the disposition of others should never be comparable to the security that one It builds itself to protect its interests.

The decision to “jump into the pool” constitutes that jump from the “comfort zone” to the hypothetical “risk zone”. For this reason, it cannot be qualified only as of the decision to do something, since it involves much more.

Fears must be overcome and behavioral paradigms are broken.

You have to move from one environment to another, alien and different.

When a person “jumps” for the first time into a pool, the experience is just that: a change in the natural environment. 

In most cases, the experience ends up being pleasant and motivating. Apprehension is quickly forgotten and grace discovered. Regardless of someone being a great swimmer, the experience in a pool is a safe activity.

Exactly the same happens with the entrepreneur! Although this seems like a comfortable simplification. When he “jumps into the pool” he realizes that the “tiger is not as he was painted”, and that entrepreneurship is a professional job like any other.

This first decision QUALIFIES the entrepreneur. In it lies its distinctive meaning. The jump to the swimming pool is given by a few.

Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand claims that the people of a society are divided between creators and parasites (Makers and Takers in the original language). 

The first are those that give shape and meaning to the evolutionary process of human well-being by creating things, structures, systems. And the latter are those who nourish and live on what is created. 

In the world, there are no more than 3 creators for every 97 “parasites”. And when taking the “leap”, the entrepreneur joins the first group. Hence, the decision RATES it.

It is not appropriate to assume that the entrepreneur is behind a business idea, a burning desire for independence, or a vision that no one else has. All of this may exist, but what definitely qualifies it is the step it takes between the imaginary and the physical. Between what you think and the action, the saying, and the fact.

Behind an entrepreneur there is no idea or a project, behind an entrepreneur there is a DECISION TO DO IT.

After taking the “leap”, the entrepreneur must make a second momentous decision: to make victory the ONLY option. If you don’t focus all your skills, resources, and time on making entrepreneurship a way of life, the process runs the risk of becoming an anecdote.

Only the person who “burns ships” after determination, is making decisions that make him an entrepreneur.

If you enable, consciously or unconsciously, “exit doors” for the task you are starting, there is a huge possibility that the venture will end because it is only a good intention, one of those that pave the paths that lead to failure and frustration.

Entrepreneurship is a way of seeing and doing things in life, it is not a job that depends on results. 

Things will turn out right or wrong many times. One idea will work better than another and there will be both favorable and unfavorable periods. In each of these situations, the entrepreneur must remain firm behind his decisions. Only in this way will the task be completed.

The change that occurs when making the decision to “jump into the pool” is so noticeable that if it is not accompanied by an equally firm one not to back down or pass out, it fails. The mere assumption that “the ships are burned” provides power, focus. For the entrepreneur, there should be no “rear guard”. Nothing left or right. The prize is always ahead, subject to conquest.

The moment you enter the “pool” newspapers are closed to look for work, call for job references. The only thing that exists is entrepreneurship, and the need to grow alongside it.

The decision to “burn ships” has nothing to do with the goodness of the ideas or projects.

They are not the ones to be tested, it is the man. If one idea doesn’t work, another will. If a project ends up being inappropriate, another will work out better.

Edison didn’t make the light bulb on the first try, Garcia Marquez burned hundreds of sheets for each one that shaped his masterpiece. Ideas and projects don’t matter. What matters is the man who gives them life and remains consistently behind them, in good times and bad.

There are more entrepreneurs who return to “safety zones” after having made the decision to “jump” than those who finally never dare to take the step.

“Burning ships”, making victory the only option, are part of the two decisions that make you an entrepreneur, essential acts to crown the task of entrepreneurship.

With reference to the obvious difficulty of all this, Napoleon thought as follows:

 

 “There is no man more cowardly than I when I prepare a military plan. I increase all dangers and all possible evils according to the circumstances. I sink into painful agitation. I am like a young woman giving birth. However, this does not prevent me from appearing quite serene to the people around me. When I have made my decision, everything is forgotten, except what can make it succeed ”.

 

All doubts and hesitations are justified before taking “the leap”. Precautions work for good. But after this has been done, everything must be forgotten, except what is necessary to succeed.

“Jump in the pool and burn ships” after doing it. These two are the two decisions that make you an entrepreneur.