A while ago, we talked about the things you need to know when dating an entrepreneur. Today, we’ll continue this by looking at the signs you’re an entrepreneur.
If you are an entrepreneur, how many signs do you know you have? If you’re a wantrepreneur, how many of these signs do you know you have?
17. You’re a student of history
In 1906, George Santayana said the famous quote “he who fails to learn from the past is doomed to repeat it”. And this is one of the biggest signs you’re an entrepreneur!
Entrepreneurs learn from history.
They learn from the entrepreneurs that came before them. It’s often said that entrepreneurs learn from mistakes, however no one ever said that it had to be their mistake.
The best entrepreneurs often have someone who they look up to. Often, these people are in the same industry as the entrepreneur, but sometimes they are not.
For instance, my mentor is a friend of mine called Tony. Where I operate mostly in the finance industry, he operates in the construction industry.
However, the mistakes he made have helped me to avoid those same costly mistakes!
16. “How Can I make money from this?”
Perhaps one of the most common signs you’re an entrepreneur is whether you ask yourself “How Can I make money from this?”
If you are reading the latest Bloomberg Report, or an article from the New York Times and ask yourself how you can use it to make money.
I’ll be honest- you won’t be able to use it to make money every time, however, you will be able to use it sometimes.
In fact, some of the world’s greatest businesses have come from reading something and asking that question. This includes this blog too (although I wouldn’t class it as one of the world’s greatest business).
In fact, asking yourself this question is one of the most common (and best) signs you’re an entrepreneur! Some of the greatest entrepreneurs use this to become incredibly successful.
Entrepreneurs including Richard Branson, Josh Kopelman and Mark Cuban all use this strategy to become so successful!
15. You’re hungry for knowledge
I don’t know who said it, but there is a quote I believe sums up entrepreneurs greatly. The quote goes something like “He who controls knowledge controls power”.
And entrepreneurs encompass that greatly.
One of the greatest signs you’re an entrepreneur is your reading habits. Most successful entrepreneurs read for at least an hour each day, some even reading a book every week!
To non-entrepreneurs, this may seem odd or even mind boggling, but to entrepreneurs they understand the value that these books can provide.
The insights that these books can have on their business. The insights these books can have on increasing their productivity levels. The insights these books can have on their professional or personal lives.
And they use these to become some of the most influential people on the entire planet! After all, what did great conquerors do after they stopped conquering? They built libraries and universities.
Case closed.
14. You’re bored
If you’re anything like me, doing what everyone else does is the most boring thing you could think of.
Sitting and watching some TV? Boring. Want to sit and make meaningless small talk? Boring. Working a nine to five? Boring. You find people who are content with the norm incredibly boring.
Not only do you not want to be their friend, but you don’t want to be with them romantically either!
Anything and everything to do with the status quo bores you. And worst of all, you couldn’t imagine doing anything else. You can’t imagine continuing to follow what everyone does, you can’t explain why.
It is simply boring and you want nothing to do with it.
13. You’re fine with isolation
Perhaps one of the saddest parts (or best in my opinion!) of being an entrepreneur is the isolation. People simply don’t understand why you do what you do. And you can’t fathom why people continue to do what they do.
You also have a lot of work to do. Most entrepreneurs are the social media manager, SEO expert, marketing team, chief financial officer and chief executive officer all at once!
As such, you often seclude yourself from “normal” people. Perhaps you’ll even spend days at a time in your office not seeing friends, family or even your spouse!
One of the best signs you’re an entrepreneur is that you can handle not talking to people for long periods of time. After all, you’ll often spend lots of time by yourself focusing solely on your business!
12. WiFi is a must
Perhaps one of the more modern signs you’re an entrepreneur is that you need WiFi. We’ve all seen those tropes where a teenage girl is without WiFi for thirty seconds and begins to go stir crazy.
Entrepreneurs get that too!
When you book a vacation, one of the parts of the criteria is that the hotel must have WiFi. Whenever you go out, you always make sure to have your data on, or you’ve bought a WiFi box.
You’ve always got the best data plan your company offers you. And you simply don’t know any other way of living!
And you do this, not because you want to, but mostly because you feel as though you have to. You can’t stand the idea of to being connected to the outside world.
For many entrepreneurs it’s a necessity, for others, it’s simply a piece of mind.
11. You love planning
If you love planning, it is perhaps one of the greatest signs you’re an entrepreneur.
How exactly? It shows that you are good at delegating tasks, which is an essential skill that almost all entrepreneurs share!
Entrepreneurs are known for delegating tasks that don’t interest them. They plan so that their employees or other members of the executive team can do those tasks for them.
They also like to have a plan. They plan to know what to expect and when to expect it.
However, as the Roman general Fabian once said “Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy”. The enemy in this case being your competitors.
10. Start young
We’ve seen this countless times with our Surprising Wealth Stories segment. Many of these people have stories of when they were younger and used to sell lemonade at a lemonade stand or sell candy at school.
You also have entrepreneurs such as Rachel Zietz, Mo Bridges or Alexander Pask, who actually run their own business as teenagers!
We’ve also seen it with people like John D. Rockefeller, who ran a pawn shop in his late teens. Elon Musk sold video games he designed. Warren Buffett used to sell anything he could get his hands on to his classmates.
It’s often the practical business lessons that these future entrepreneurs learn selling candy and lemonade that makes them great entrepreneurs!
If that was you as a kid, perhaps it’s one of the signs you’re an entrepreneur. And if you aren’t an entrepreneur yet, one day you will be!
9. You don’t need to be liked
For some reason, people feel as though they need to be liked by everyone. And if someone doesn’t like them, it’s a sign that they’re not perfect, and will spend hours, if not days worrying over it.
Entrepreneurs understand that to be the best, they will piss off at least a few people along the way. A such, they understand that they will never be liked by everyone.
Instead of crying and worrying over it, entrepreneurs accept that fact.
When you look at the most successful people in the world, they have their fair share of critics, ranging from politicians to news anchors to your everyday Joe.
Just look at people like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Michael O’Leary. There are people who have a lot of admiration and respect for them, but there are equally as many who hate them.
You don’t see Elon Musk on Bloomberg or CNBC crying about how people hate him. He accepts it and moves on. Perhaps he even uses it as motivation!
8. Aiming for the stars
Whatever you do, you are aiming for greatness.
If you are trying to change the world from how we know it, you are aiming for greatness. If you are attempting to become the richest man in the world, you are aiming for greatness.
If you have that burning desire in your heart to do what no one else dares to do, you will achieve greatness!
After all, a misquote of Norman Vincent Peale goes something like “Aim for the stars because at least if you miss you’ll hit the moon!”
7. You value your time
One of the most promising signs you’re an entrepreneur is the fact that you understand that your time on this planet is finite. With the technology and laws that we have currently, no amount of money can buy you more time.
As such, they hate to waste it.
If you want to sit around all day and talk about Kim Kardashian, that’s fine, don’t don’t involve entrepreneurs.
They often value their time and understand that all that time you spend talking about her, could’ve been used to do something more. It could’ve been used to help provide value or start a new business idea.
Entrepreneurs understand that by wasting time, they can never get it back. As such, they get annoyed or cranky when you want to make small talk. They simply don’t care.
6. It’s your passion
Many people wonder what their true passion in life is. For some, they have a hobby that is their life. For others, their passion is their friends or their family.
For many people, their job isn’t their passion. Often, it’s the complete opposite, people hate their job.
But for entrepreneurs, it is their business or businesses. It’s just that their businesses are their passion, but it’s what their businesses do that is also their passion.
If the entrepreneur is passionate about their business, they become more invested in their business. Thus, they make their business more profitable. Thus, they are able to invest more in their business.
5. You hang out with people smarter than you
It’s often said that you are the sum of the five people you hang out with the most.
And entrepreneurs understand this well.
If this sounds like you, it could be one of the best signs you’re an entrepreneur yet!
They understand that there is so much that they can learn from other people if they just allow them to speak. As such, they hang out with those who understand the world around them.
Entrepreneurs tend to gravitate towards people like themselves. They gravitate to people who also run their own businesses in order for them to gain the knowledge that these fellow business owners have.
After all, knowledge is power.
4. Education over entertainment
Entrepreneurs prefer to learn about the world. They need to know everything that is going on in the world at the moment. And they don’t want to get a laugh out of it.
Most entrepreneurs aren’t very serious people- most of the time, they’re incredibly laid back. However, when it comes to their education, they value it far more than mindless TV or Podcasts…
That is, unless they’re the ones making it, of course.
They’d much rather spend their time learning. Sometimes that is reading books, other times that is reading a newspaper.
Entrepreneurs would much rather learn a little more about the world around them, than get a few cheap laughs. After all, it’ll be them who wins in the long term!
3. Outlets are a necessity
Your friends and family may think that it’s an obsession. But trust me, it isn’t. It’s simply how entrepreneurs are wired.
Entrepreneurs have a innate sense for getting the best value for money possible. Even more so than most other people.
However, this goes further than just penny-pinching. Entrepreneurs understand the value of money, just as they understand the value of their time.
Entrepreneurs understand that with that extra money, they can do so much more with it. They understand that with the money they can invest that money into their business.
Or they can use this money to fund a new business or lay the seeds for a new series of funding.
2. You’ve got someone to prove wrong
A common sign you’re an entrepreneur is that you have someone to prove wrong. It might sound pathetic, silly and a little immature but this is perhaps one of the most common things entrepreneurs have.
Sometimes, this is an ex who told you that you weren’t good enough for them. Sometimes, it’s someone who mocked you or bullied you at school or at work. Sometimes, it’s a parent, teacher or even a former friend.
This is the fire that burns within you. This fire is what gets you out of bed in the morning. This fire is what motivates you get your business to the next level.
This is something that entrepreneurs such as Oprah, Ray Kroc and Steve had. And this helped them to become the people they are today and become as successful as they are.
1. You’re “weird”
Perhaps one of the most common signs you’re an entrepreneur is the fact that people call you weird. To them, it makes sense, you are weird. They simply don’t understand what you do and why you do it.
You run you’re own business when you could just be like everyone else and get a normal job. You get up at a “stupid” time in the morning and go to bed much later than they do.
When you come home, you don’t put your feet up and watch some TV, you continue to work. You probably also have some more outspoken, eccentric or bold traits to you which other people don’t understand.
As such, people call you weird. To them, it’s partly an insult and partly an off-the-hand remark. But to you, it’s perhaps the greatest compliment someone could ever give you!
Know of any other signs you’re an entrepreneur? Tell me in the comments!
