The Entrepreneur's Dilemma

EVERYONE IS an entrepreneur nowadays.

It’s true.

If one were to make a data-driven analysis, I’d almost guarantee there’s been a significant increase in the number of individuals that have tacked on Founder, Co-Founder or straight up Entrepreneur to their job titles on LinkedIn over the past twenty years. No, of course I wouldn’t do that analysis myself. But I will Google it.

Yep. It’s true.

Now, I don’t take issue with entrepreneurship per-se. During a recent discussion on Reddit, someone told me that “being an entrepreneur is a wonderful thing.” I had to stop myself in my tracks. Whoever this person is, they clearly mean it. So why have I developed such an aversion to this term, this profession, this phenomenon? I remember, there was a time where I wanted to be an Entrepreneur.

Often, I catch myself observing people and wondering how they got there. What strange string of events led to you adopting this title? Are you genuinely creating value or are you simply in it for the name? The prestige our modern society endows upon those bearing the title: Entrepreneur.

Then I observe myself and I realize: Envy is the main driver of my distasteful disposition.

We all know: Entrepreneurship is hard. Yet the modern world puts the title on a pedestal, disproportionately associating it with fame and riches.

And I know, the comparison of myself – of who I am – with this skewed image leads to one place, and one place only. A place of unhappiness.

THE END