3 Reasons Why People Become Entrepreneurs

So, your boss is a slave-driving, insensitive jack-wagon who is only interested in themselves and squeezing more work out of you. Maybe the company you work for has their sights set on eliminating you from the payroll for some reason? Maybe you are just tired of making other people rich? You have always dreamed about becoming an entrepreneur and making it on your own, under your own power of success or failure. There are three reasons why people strive to become entrepreneurs and start up their own businesses.

The first reason “ I want to be my own boss ” is the most common answer given when asked why people want to start their own business. Wanting to be your own boss doesn’t mean you were a bad employee or difficult to work with or have trouble accepting authority. It is more likely you had a life-long desire to start your own company or you are simply frustrated working with people who just seem to not have a clue or just don’t care.

The second reason why people consider becoming an entrepreneur is to pursue their own ideas. Perhaps you notice things that others in your workplace don’t see. You have the vision to see opportunities for new products or services that are not currently being offered by your company and you want to see those ideas realized. It is not unusual for companies to resist innovation. On the other side of the plate, maybe you see a problem in everyday life that needs fixing or a way something could be done better and you have a desire to bring your solution to the marketplace.

Finally, the third reason people become entrepreneurs is to pursue financial rewards. Don’t be fooled though, typically this reason is secondary to the first two reasons and often fails to live up to the hype. The average entrepreneur does not make more money than a similar person with a similar amount of responsibility working in a traditional job. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is certainly money to be made by being an entrepreneur. Take a look at Steve Jobs (Apple co-founder) or Richard Branson (Virgin Records, Virgin Airways, Virgin Mobile, etc..), they are two very wealthy entrepreneurs who defied all the odds to become mega-rich. I read a piece on Richard Branson, talking about when he sold Virgin Records for something like a billion dollars. He walked down the street after the sale was completed and he was crying. Not because he had a huge check in his pocket, but for Branson, being an entrepreneur was about the building of a company and the thrill of seeing the business succeed from his initial idea.

That is the true heart of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who is not looking for the get-rich-quick scheme, but someone who is looking for a challenge. An entrepreneur is somebody who is looking to build something that they can be proud of and bring new employees into the mix and be a job creator and be an upstanding citizen in their community. An entrepreneur is a person who can stand on their own two feet at the end of the day and say to the world, “ I did it my way, thanks for coming along for the ride.”

- MotherThumper