“Entrepreneur” – it’s a buzz word. This is something that’s been eating at me for a while. Everyone wants to believe they’re an entrepreneur—but I think a lot of people don’t really understand what it means.
I was listening recently to a Jay Abraham and Tony Robbins recording and they made a phenomenal point. One that I’d been on the cusp of, I’d been looking for an answer to—but I hadn’t quite made the jump.
A lady on this recording was talking about her business and Tony asked her,
“Would you ever sell it? I mean, if someone offered you money right now?”
Her answer was a fast and resounding,
“No!”
“Then you’re not an entrepreneur,” Tony said. “You’re an artist.”
This is exactly the distinction I was looking for.
Are you an Entrepreneur – Or an Artist?
If your Work is building, selling and buying businesses, you’re an entrepreneur.
If your Work is the subject of your business—a passion for helping a particular group of people or around a particular product or subject, you’re an artist.
Still not sure?
Ask yourself this:
If someone offered you a reasonable amount of money for your business, would you sell it?
If the answer is a resounding “yes”—if you’d happily flip what you’ve got and take the money to go into the next thing—then chances are, you’re an entrepreneur.
If the answer is “no”—if you’d struggle to let go of the thing you’ve built, if it’s your passion, if you love your community and your employees—then chances are, you are NOT an entrepreneur.
I know for some people, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
“Entrepreneurs” are this generations rock stars (as even rock and movie stars become entrepreneurs). You WANT that title. But the odds are, it’s not REALLY you.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND!
There is no value judgment here.
One is not better than the other. Both have their upsides—and their downsides.
The question is—who are you REALLY? Because when you understand and embrace that, you’ll find yourself in state of flow a lot more often. Resistance of who you are is the quickest way to misery.
Entrepreneur Vs Artist: A Profile
Entrepreneurs are good quitters. They know when to walk away.
Artists suck at letting go. They hold on to things long past the point of them making sense, because they care so much.
Entrepreneurs primary motivation is The Win.
Artists primary motivation is The Work.
Entrepreneurs normally have several ventures running at any given time and don’t care which one takes off.
Artists may have more than one thing going on, but all of those things will typically be focused on the same outcome.
Entrepreneurs are good leaders. They find great staff and delegate.
Artists tend to get by on passion, they find it difficult to let go of the reigns.
Entrepreneurs end game is to sell.
Artists typically haven’t thought about their end game—because they don’t consider that the game has an end.
Entrepreneurs look for funding.
Artists are horrified by the idea of giving even a small percentage of their business to someone else.
Entrepreneurs can tell you exactly what business they’d go into next.
Artists can’t imagine being in any business but the one they’re in.
Entrepreneurs will be involved in many businesses throughout their lives, often in completely unrelated industries.
Artists may be involved in different businesses—but always in the same space with the same end. Often, if given the choice, they’ll stay in the one company forever.
I’ve segregated this list of famous business owners into artists and entrepreneurs based on what I think—but I’m interested to hear your opinion! Do you agree that Steve Jobs was an artist? Is Zuckerburg an entrepreneur? Are there people missing from the list? Where would you place them?
Comment below!
Famous Artists
- Steve Jobs
- Warren Buffet
- Walt Disney
- Bill Gates
- Jeff Bezos
Famous Entrepreneurs
- Richard Branson
- Donald Trump
- Mark Zuckerburg
- Ray Kroc
Are you an entrepreneur or artist? Would you like to learn more about what this means to your business? I recently held a live webinar where we discussed just that, and I’m making the recording available to all 8 PERCENT readers. Just click the button below:
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Totally disagree with Jeff Bezos being an artist, Amazon are all about strategic acquisition. Building, tinkering and refining their processes. He might not want to walk away from his share of the business but you can bet he’s interested in building their suite of services.
Thanks Michael! I ummed and ahhhed over that one – and ended up putting Jeff in artist, but I’m totally open to that being wrong … I can totally see the argument on both sides 🙂
Great read Leela!
When I was reading your post, I kept thinking of J. Paul Getty.
In his book How to be Rich he had this quote “Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells.”
But when he died he left most of his fortune to the ridiculously massive Getty ART museum.
So… I’ll let you call it: Artist or Entrepreneur? :p
It could still be either – the definition is based on how you approach life and business, rather than on what you do with your money. It’s an attitude.
Both are awesome. Both can build HUGE businesses, create MASSIVE wealth and AMAZING innovations.
Great, great article!! I’ve always wanted to articulate this and you’ve done it so well. Not everyone is an Entrepreneur and THAT’s OK. Tony Robbins is spot on with his question. I remember reading the E-Myth in my early 20’s together with the McDonalds story, Branson and Robbins and wouldn’t create businesses any other way.
Thanks Michelle! It’s something I’ve been thinking about a LOT over the last 12 months.
Awesome!
Thanks 🙂
Excellent perspective.
Very interesting perspective!!!
I disagree emphatically. I do call myself an entrepreneur, but I wouldn’t sell when I was offered a large offer. This author uses this litmus test incorrectly, it’s not if you would sell or not is WHY you would or wouldn’t.
When I got the offer on my business I turned it down because most offers are 2-5 years of projected profit. But I had big plans for my business and in 10 months time I increased my profits 3x and the year after that another 5x. So in about 18 months I had increased my profits beyond that offer and I still owned the company. And thus created a machine that gave me that larger income year over year.
Now I’ve began to extricate myself from the business and build the team to run it with minimal time on my part.
That allowed me to go on to build another business and still earn a large salary from my first business.
Ps: Mark Z is a. Artist according to your test. He turned down $1B from yahoo
Also funding is a startup mentality, not my cup of tea. I’m from the gritty bootstrapped camp where we earn every dollar.
You seem to have missed 90% of the article.
One idea / concept / sentence can’t accurately reflect who a person is. It’s a litmus test. There’s about a million other indicators.
At least 10 of them are listed in the article.
The fact that you’re running multiple businesses, systemising them, moving on to the next thing makes you an entrepreneur.
An artist wouldn’t systemise and build another business. They may systemise so they have more time to do the parts of their business they love. But they don’t want multiple businesses.
They have a single idea with which they want to change the world.
Also, I said I was open to discussion around the artist / entrepreneur list.
You’re not the first person to disagree with where I placed Mark. Maybe I’m wrong.
One of the problems is that, to a certain extent, you need a fairly good knowledge of a person to know whether they’re an artist or an entrepreneur.
I put Mark as an entrepreneur because he’s had several businesses. He was looking for “the thing” that was going to hit and be huge.
Perhaps he does love Facebook so much that it makes him an artist.
My gut says entrepreneur.
But as I said, I’m open to healthy debate around that.
leelah, i appreciate your article, but starting off your reply with “you must have missed 90% of the article” doesn’t exactly encourage healthy debate. i happen to agree with Mark, and i agree with parts of your article and not with others. i’ve worked with hundreds of businesses/entrepreneurs/artists via my business accelerator and can definitively say that not only are there artists and entrepreneurs, but there both of these categories can be blurred depending on all manner of circumstances for the entrepreneurs/artists. as with life, the the world of business is shades of grey. cheers!
I actually think the “blends” are other types … I don’t think “artist” and “entrepreneur” is definitive. There’s further categories that people fit into to … working on this for a follow up article.
In terms of my “you didn’t read 90% of the article” comment – that merely came from a place of frustration. A few people have misunderstood the sentiment of the primary question – would you sell your business?
It’s not about whether you HAVE sold your business, but whether you WOULD sell.
And given only a couple of people have had this misconception, my guess is people are skim-reading and reacting to that.
Totally agree with you. I actually feel a lot better about myself reading this. I thought there was something wrong with me that I wasn’t passionate about my business and that is be willing to sell, that I was more interested in getting the business going than the business of the business. Thank you for helping me see that I’m an entrepreneur and that its ok!
Gary Vaynerchuk says Mark Zuk is one of the best and under-valued entrepreneurs out there. I trust Gary.
I agree with your definition of an entrepreneur and lots of people call themselves entrepreneurs who are not. I take exception with your description about entrepreneurs, not having passion for the businesses they create, and only being in it for the “win”.
I think many artists think like entrepreneurs and can make a fantastic business, be in it for the win, and do think about the end game and as creative people can have vastly different interests . On the other hand many entrepreneurs are passionate about the work, haven’t thought about the end game, and can’t imagine being in any other business .
I think that an entrepreneur has a business that can run with out them, and has owned more than one business. Neither is better than the other, but in order to meet your financial goals, you need to understand what type of business you are running.
I absolutely agree – one is not better than the other. And artists can create AMAZING businesses.
Hmm..I love how much this article made me think, and I agree with much of what you said. I think there is a blend as well. I have other businesses I would sell, use funding, the point is the win etc, but I’m artist like in my Life & Energy coaching business. Also, I think the word entrepreneur is overused and cringe when I hear MLMers use it LOL.
That’s an interesting distinction, Mandi – I wasn’t really thinking about whether you could be an artist vs an entrepreneur in multiple businesses. I think you’re probably right – I’ve run businesses that were very much entrepreneurial. And then I have the things I do that are artistic.
I think at your soul, though – you’re primarily one or the other.
For me, I was doing entrepreneurial things while questing for my artistic vision – to figure out what I REALLY wanted to be when I grew up. Once I found it, I transitioned completely into being the artist.
Yes, god made my soul be an entrepreneur.
Also the very basic principal of The EMyth, written 20 years ago…?
you’d notice at the beginning of the article I said I got this from Jay Abraham. I’m not claiming to have originated it.
I actually noticed you ripped off Tony Robbins! I’m glad in your research you’re watching a bunch of self help videos, instead of reading books that have been written on this subject.
So quoting someone, giving them attribution, is ripping them off?
You’d better quickly contact every University in the world and let them know they need to stop quoting with attribution, NOW!
Or, you know, find something better to do with your time.
your call. 🙂
Face It: You’re Not a Writer! You’ve never had an original thought.
Leelah, this is a thoughtful attempt to make meaningful distinctions based on motives and future orientation. I think this article furthers the conversation about what it really means to be an entrepreneur versus even a business owner vs what I call a ‘business artist.’ Our community of business artists include entrepreneurs, professionals, and artists. What holds us together is our hunger for business with integrity and for approaching business itself as a craft that can be finessed with grace and a signature style that captivates customers and communities the way artists inherently do. We live in an experience economy in which people become loyal to brands based on their emotional experiences with them. ‘Artists’ have the emotional, social, and imaginative intelligence to make such experiences the fabric of an endeavor. I hope some of this contributes to your thinking. You can see the Business As Unusual video we produced at wwww.trackingwonder.com. Cheers
LOL! Thank you for this… it has helped me really draw the line between where I am with my business (entrepreneur! any reasonable offer will not be refused!) and what I see my peers doing (labor of love — I’m honestly jealous sometimes).
I think entrepreneurs have to be a little bit of artists to make a thing wonderful, but it’s difficult for artists to ever truly be entrepreneurs (by your definition). At the same time, an entrepreneur has to rely on grit and stubbornness to get them through the rough patches, where an artist gets to pull from a place of love.
Really interesting perspective Leela. Over the past year I too have been mulling the “entrepreneur” word a lot, and testing it out on people who I meet, who are entrepreneurial in my eyes. There is a lot of baggage around the word, perhaps a lot of confusion also. The dictionary def speaks only to the risk-taking element. For me, I have always defined an entrepreneur as someone with the spirit of “making shit happen”, and using business as a vehicle for that. Having met so many insanely talented creatives who shun the label “artist” I began to feel that these labels have very limited use. Some people hate chutney but love jam.. but what chaos ensues when the so-called chutney tastes like jam? Confusing food metaphors aside, I wonder what purpose it serves to have such labels and distinctions, other than to categorise (which always seems to de-soul a product/person). Perhaps the use of a label to describe something or someone instantly alters the perception of what that person/thing is, taking it away from the truth. Just my 2 cents- I really appreciate the chance to mull this over some more 🙂
I understand that some people are anti-label. Personally, I find them useful. They help me to understand who I am and how things fit in my life. I think it’s important, however, not to identify too much with them or to take them too literally.
Like, you don’t have to like the word artist – you can use a different word if you like – it’s more about the distinction between categories.
I would disagree – cause is independent of the entrepreneurial function. The distinction is not between artists and entrepreneurs – the distinction is between entrepreneurs and freelancers/consultants. An entrepreneur builds an organization around an idea; a consultant or freelancer is committed to a craft or skillset and applies that to various organizations. The artist or cause quality can exist for both entrepreneurs or freelancers – entrepreneurs may solely pursue a single cause and freelancers may refuse to work on projects that don’t fit their values.
http://www.earwolf.com/episode/freelancer-or-entrepreneur/
The author says “PLEASE UNDERSTAND!
There is no value judgment here.”
Then goes on to list all the ways in which an “entrepreneur” is superior to an artist …
It’s YOUR value judgement that says that those things about being an entrepreneur is superior to being an artist. As an artist myself, I don’t believe being an entrepreneur is better.
A close friend of mine is an artist, in that old fashioned way of actually creating art. She has made a very good living for over 20 years selling her paintings and sculptures. Selling them. She doesn’t get a canvas and never stop painting it. She finishes it, shows it, usually sells it, and in the meantime has started something new.
Regarding the idea that “90%” of the article was about other qualities, I actually took the trouble to paste it into Word and do a count. 366 words were about “selling your business” qualifying you as an entrepreneur, and in fact emphasising it by repeating it many times. 278 were about “other,” although the spacing style makes it look a little bigger.
Please don’t get frustrated when you write an introduction and people read it and believe that is what the article is about. That is actually what introductions are for. Calling something a “litmus test” also tends to provide emphasis to the reader.
You and I obviously have different ideas of what counts as “selling your business”. My count gives me 60 words about selling your business. So, 16% of the article is about selling your business. 84% of the article isn’t.
If it was EVERYONE making that mistake, I’d be like – okay. I need to rewrite to make it more clear.
But given it’s less than 10% of people, that tells me people are either not reading the article in full, being purposefully truculent, or simply struggle with insight and context.
Meanwhile, your artist friend is selling her WORK. Not her business. That’s a pretty huge difference. If you’re not selling your WORK then you don’t have a business at all … the definition of being in business requires that you sell something.
Artists trade in The Work. It’s what they live for. It’s who they are. And whatever they do, they’ll always engage in The Work because it’s part of their identity.
I apologize, you are always right and everyone who disagrees is always wrong.
LOL. You’re the one who is having a problem with someone engaging in a discussion with you.
But just because you harbour an opposing view, doesn’t mean I’m going to fall to my knees and plead your forgiveness.
I wouldn’t have written the article if I didn’t believe what I was saying.
And if I believe what I’m saying I’m going to stand up for it. I’m more than happy to discuss. I’m more than happy to add further distinction. As I have above.
You’re the one getting your nose out of joint and being snarky because you think you’re always right and everyone who disagrees is wrong …
Initially I started to dismiss the article but then decided to read it through its entirety. After reading it without judgement I have come to the conclusion that I am simply an artistic entrepreneur. Enjoyed the different perspectives and it provided some good food for thought. Great article.
That is interesting that this concept pretty much just redefines the word – no where in any dictionary could I find that being an entrepreneur has anything to do with selling your business but simply to take on all the risks of owning and running your own venture. Being an artist and an entrepreneur are not mutually exclusive.
Yeah, the problem with dictionary definitions is that for complex subjects they have a tendency to be woefully inaccurate and incomplete.
The definition of “entrepreneur” is STILL a subject debated by the best business minds of our time. The dictionary has to define it somehow, so they do.
But go to any University level entrepreneurship course, and they’ll typically open with 50 different definitions of entrepreneurship.
The one agreement is that it goes beyond just starting a business. Not all business owners are entrepreneurs.
*takes drink*
When in the world did Mark sell Facebook? (IPO is not answering yes to the question of selling the company) Needless to say disagree with the above.
You’ve totally missed the point. Well done!
Just because someone doesn’t answer the way you’d like, doesn’t mean you have to answer back with rudeness and sarcasm.
Any respect you may have won over your audience with in this article is now lost because of your behavior in these comments. What a shame.
I answer with Sarcasm when the person has clearly skim-read the article and the supposed “point” they bring up has absolutely nothing to do with the article.
My audience it’s totally fine with these comments. By definition, people who have an issue with me responding with sarcasm to someone who is expressing an “opinion” when having totally missed the point, are NOT my market.
Actually, further:
Anyone who has an issue with sarcasm, period, is not my market.
I think you’re hilarious. It’s refreshing to find someone not being politically correct lol
I think I’m hilarious, too! 😉
If you are promoting, selling,
manufacturing or creating something that is essentially your own
passion, handy-work your are an artist or artisan.
If you are promoting or selling the
creation or handy-work of others or any form of financial product or
investment you are an entrepreneur, wannabe entrepreneur, charlatan
or any combination of these things.
It’s extremely difficult to be equally successful at both.
Excellent distinction.
Thanks Leela, feel free to use it
Oy. Steve Jobs is responsible for literally tens of thousands of Chinese working in sweatshops. He was famous for vengefully crushing his competition. Bill Gates is an empire builder. Jeff Bezos is a union breaker and fierce price cutter. If these folks are artists, i want to call myself something else, thanks/
You presented a hypothesis without any facts. You assumed that you were right without giving any examples. I enjoyed your point of view but I disagree with most of it. I think you are on to something. I am researching the same thing in a documentary I am producing. I am an entrepreneur and an artist.
I didn’t present a hypothesis. I presented an opinion.
This is an opinion piece. Wherein, I describe my opinion on a topic. An educated opinion, at that.
I agree with you on this point; it was simply your opinion. Here in the U.S., however, it’s not a rare one. The Wall Street Journal, Inc. magazine, Forbes, Fortune, and most any other U.S. business publication would not call someone an entrepreneur unless they had somewhat of a track record for buying and/or selling businesses.
I find the blanket Entrepreneur vs Artist dichotomy overly simplistic and therefore less than useful. What is categorizing people as one or the other intended to accomplish?
It’s mainly supposed to help those of us who run businesses but who don’t identify with the “entrepreneur” title. Categorisations are useful tools. They help us to understand how things align or why they don’t.
So, in other words, it’s validating that it’s okay to not see yourself as an entrepreneur?
For myself, I’m passionate about what I do and wouldn’t be interested in starting a business simply to make money, but I’m also working to develop a *sustainable* business that could run without me (and, yes, perhaps even be sold), so it sounds like I’m simply not the target audience for this article. 😀
‘…I wouldn’t be interested in starting a business simply to make money”….So that makes you an artist!!! Why is everyone so against the word Artist? She was simply making a distinction. The word “Entrepreneur” is being thrown around for every Tom, Dick and Hillary who put up shingles these days. My mother in law considered herself an entrepreneur. She built a business and decided that she wanted her kids to take over.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t built a business. She had built a job for herself and once her presence was gone, the so-called business could not survive. There were no systems, no processes. She had injected so much of herself into it, that when she left, the business died. It had to be rebuilt from the ground up as a real business.
She was an artist…not an entrepreneur and so are everyone of us with businesses based on passion. You can be passionate about business in general. Those who do it for the love of money aren’t necessarily bad people just because there are some of us who prefer to do it for the love. Different strokes for different folks.
Passion business owners are the new artists, those who plan to profit on their passions, and the push back might be because ‘Artist’ doesn’t sound as sexy I guess. Calling oneself an Artist used to get eye rolls considering they were usually broke and struggling.
Can’t get hung up on the words. We assign meaning to them. We can call it what we want, but in the true sense of the word entrepreneur…well, this article is spot on.
I’m half way between the two…I am passionate about what I am doing but I see my business as a business as well. It’s got to win in order for it to keep going. That means leading and attracting great staff. I need to delegate, in fact I think that is a must because I don’t have all of the required skill sets. I see my primary job as bringing the best in other people for them to do an amazing job.
Entrepreneur: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
Oh look. Another dictionary definition. Please see every other response where someone quotes the dictionary and I explain why, according to every great mind in business, it’s not accurate.
*takes drink*
For anyone else who is playing along at home, Jenna and I have a drinking game going on where, every time someone posts the dictionary definition of entrepreneur as evidence that I’m wrong, we take a drink.
We’ve basically been wasted for the last 1.5 weeks.
I told you we should have made it a green smoothie drinking game.
Yes, the ‘great minds of business’ get to redefine basic terms like entrepreneur for us. Wow. My dirty laundry is also art according to somebody somewhere.
Correct – they do. Because Drucker, Abraham and every university lecturer in entrepreneurship is eminently more qualified to define it that the good people at Mirriam-Webster (or Oxford) – whose only experience with entrepreneurship is defining it for a dictionary…
They certainly do not. You need to learn about what a dictionary is, and role it plays in language – you are most certainly are not an expert in those things or you wouldn’t take the asinine position that common usage for millions of people can be over-ruled by a small group of swelled foreheads with an interest in a particular topic. Also, anybody who takes the advice here and puts artist on his or her business card, when they are an entrepreneur, would be a fool.
I think Leela knows what the dictionary is. You’re the one who doesn’t. The dictionary simply provides short definition of words in common usage. They don’t offer any insight or criticism into any subject.
For example, the dictionary gives the definition of God as “the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.” Does that mean there can never be any discussion about the nature of god to different people and different religions? Does it mean that people can’t decide what god means to them, or if they even believe in god? If you wanted to get literal, going by the dictionary definition no one would be allowed to be an Atheist, because the dictionary describes God as the one Supreme being. It doesn’t give any leeway in terms of belief and personal choice, it doesn’t say “God might be the supreme being, if he or she exists, if you believe in him or her.”
If you’ve never heard of a word and you don’t know what it means, the dictionary is a great place to start. If you want to really understand a concept in an in-depth way, the dictionary isn’t very helpful at all.
Sincerely, someone who has read the dictionary. Twice.
” … the asinine position that common usage for millions of people can be over-ruled by a small group of swelled foreheads… ”
Ummm – how do you think they put the dictionary together? It’s not democratic, my friend – it’s a small group of “swelled foreheads” whose particular topic is defining concepts in a single sentence.
The dictionary is a reference point. It is not the final arbiter in usage and meanings.
As evidenced by the fact that if you pick up three dictionaries, they’ll have three different definitions.
And as also evidenced by the fact that ALL dictionaries update meanings on a regular basis to reflect new levels of meaning.
Language is not a static beast. It’s a living and evolving organism.
Also – I agree completely. Anyone who puts artist on his or her business card would be a fool … for having a business card. It’s 2015. And business cards are so bad for the environment.
Well, Leela; despite the comments below, I liked your article. I’m sure there are nuances that can be explored, but it helped me see that, even though at the moment I am a solo-preneur, in my heart I am NOT an artist. I am surrounded by business owners who are “passionate” about their work, and I sometimes wonder if I should be looking for my “passion” instead of doing what I’m doing. Don’t get me wrong– I love what I do, but am not married to it. I want success and part of that is the challenge of building something that will live beyond my career in someone else’s hands. So I think I am an entrepreneur.
That said: While I’m not an artist, I do appreciate art. Who did the artwork above? It’s really nice work.
Thank you Debbie – THIS is precisely why I wrote this article. Because I talk to so many people who worry they’re “doing it wrong” because other people are different. THAT’S why I think it’s important to make the distinction.
There’s nothing wrong with who you are! All you need is to understand it and use it to your advantage.
And if you want to transition to being an artist – doing it with lots of money from being an entrepreneur certainly isn’t a bad way to go about it.
But don’t make that transition because you think you “should” – only do it if you really WANT to.
The picture is from a stock image website we use, dollar photo club. 🙂
I hear the distinction. But, I’m not sure I understand the point. Who cares what you call each group? You talk about it making it easier to be in the flow and stop resisting who you are. What if you don’t care what you are called? It seems more like a reason to get people all stirred up and excited, than a real discussion point.
“Entrepreneurs” and “Business Artists” are both business people. Who cares if one type of business person wants to hold on to their business, and another is happy to let it go.
What is the grander point of this argument beyond titles?
See the comment from Debbie Lonergan below … where she says:
“…in my heart I am NOT an artist. I am surrounded by business owners who are “passionate” about their work, and I sometimes wonder if I should be looking for my “passion” instead of doing what I’m doing.”
THIS (and the same comment, but reversed) is the point of the conversation.
I talk to a lot of people who feel like they’re “Doing it wrong”, because other people are all about the passion – or because other people are making more money – or because people think they generally need to be “other” in order to be okay.
The point of the article is – so often we’re all lumped in as “entrepreneurs”. Personally, I don’t resonate with the word. But I am a business owner, and a moderately successful one at that. People describe me in that way. But it’s not how I see myself.
It’s been a source of frustration to many people I know – words are important. Names and categories are important.
It’s important, too, not to be married to labels, not to let them wholly define us. Not to be slavish to them.
But categories help us understand ourselves better. They give us a framework and a context for self-reflection, which is really helpful.
This was very helpful for me as I felt bad about being the type of person you described as an entrepreneur. It’s very freeing to those of us who aren’t artists but feel like we’re supposed to be.
I so think that works both ways, too – people who are artists often feel guilty for not being entrepreneurs.
At it’s heart, my Great Work is all around identity – owning who you are and using it your advantage.
I’m glad it helped!
This was a thought provoking article. Whether I agree with every sentence wasn’t the point.
I shared this article in five groups and it sparked great conversations with hundreds of readers.
However, it is so unfortunate that as the day went on and the article was reshared readers lost interest because of the horrible comments. It’s never good when your sacasm, frustration, and rudeness over shadow your content.
Oh, but I do it on purpose. It’s supposed to drive away a certain kind of person. Which it does. 🙂
I think this should be “Corporate Branding” vs. “Self Branding” because both groups are entrepreneurs.
What a great Controversial and conversation provoking topic. It does seem that argumentative and possibly disparaging comments may have blossomed out of this…. That aside … prodding things .. poking things … thinking about things .. seems to me that artists and entrepreneurs do that … welcome to the club everyone … whatever club that is …. Thank you for taking the time to write the article (publishing is an act of boldness for many) .. and thank you for all the expressions of interest and thought by every one !
Definition of entrepreneur in English:
noun
A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit
Note – is says nothing about selling it.
Oxford dictionary
*takes drink*
Leela – I found this a great read, thank you! Most of which I would have to agree with – except I would only disagree that Jobs was an Entrepreneur AND an artist. Whether it was computers, phones, tablets, music etc. he was always moving on to the next product or thing that would change the world (the Entrepreneur), but it was his obsession and fussiness with making everything so perfect which made his products and the Apple brand so desirable (the Artist). The Artist made the best products in the world while the Entrepreneur built the most valuable company in the world – I think this is what makes Jobs so special and stand out from the rest for me. So inadvertently, I would argue that the two aren’t always mutually exclusive. Again, thoroughly enjoyed the read and the discussion!
The writer is quite confused and the examples for “her artists” are misleading… why include well-known entrepreneurs into “your artists” when are all clearly entrepreneurs? Entrepreneurs create or design value for profit. Very distorted article, you don’t have to sell a business for you to be identified as an entrepreneur. Find artists, those who really don’t profit from their creations. What’s your agenda? It’s silly.
Thank you for articulating and defining for me an inner struggle my husband and I constantly have. Running any business can be so brutal/joyous that insights are like lamps in the darkness. Appreciated! Entrepreneurs rightly seek exit strategies but an artist cannot abandon her child. What a struggle indeed! I feel enlightened.
We’re glad to hear it, Erin. We certainly agree with you there.