How I Went From Businessman To Entrepreneur

Tutor, coach, salesman, project manager, billing manager, assistant, receptionist, and customer support manager. Those are the different jobs I held between the ages of 15 to 17.

 

 

In 2 years, I had tried a ton of jobs and I left every single one of them. I simply wasn’t happy. I needed to find a career path that would make me happy and provide me the joy I was looking for.

 

 

I began looking into different career paths. I came across the idea of being a businessman and an owner. I would be able to run my own business and dictate my own laws. I read a ton of books, blogs and other resources and quickly decided to create my first business.

 

 

Most people don’t know that there is a huge difference between businessman and entrepreneur. I sure didn’t. In fact, when I 17 and first got started, I didn’t even know that the word entrepreneur existed.

 

 

I wasn’t even close to understanding what a businessman was and what an entrepreneur was. I was lost in my own world and it wasn’t until 2 years after starting my business, I was able to figure it all out.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share my story on how I went from businessman to entrepreneur.

 

 

Businessman vs Entrepreneur

 

Most people look at these 2 words as the same. When I finally found out about what an entrepreneur was, I thought it was the same thing. While I was running my first company, I wasn’t an entrepreneur, I was a businessman.

 

 

Here’s how I define the two terms:

 

 

Businessman – A person who gets into business for making money.

 

 

Entrepreneur – A person who gets into business for solving problems, creating value and changing the way things work.

 

 

I felt like a businessman because anyone could start a multimedia agency and offer the services I was providing. While these services were valuable, it was really just a great way to make money.

 

 

There was a high demand for the services I was offering, however regardless of my existence, people would still have their needs solved. They would just have to find someone else.

 

 

The Discovery

 

At 17 years old, starting my own company and seeing legitimate revenue come in was a great feeling. However, it wasn’t the ultimate satisfaction I was looking for.

 

 

In the beginning, I ignored it thinking I was crazy but the unsatisfactory feeling would not disappear. It took me almost a year and a half to figure out that I wasn’t happy enough because I didn’t feel like I made a difference or served a purpose.

 

 

That’s when I made the realization of what an entrepreneur was and what I was, a businessman. I saw entrepreneurs making tons of money, but they weren’t driven by that. They were driven by the idea of making a difference and so many of them truly were.

 

 

I wanted to be able to do the same thing because entrepreneurship would give me the opportunity to help people while allowing me to make money simultaneously. It was the best of both worlds.

 

 

The Decision To Switch

 

When I told the people closest to me that I was going to move on from my first business by selling it and focus solely on StatFuse (my next venture), people thought I was very foolish!

 

 

They said it was the biggest mistake that I would make and that I shouldn’t leave a good thing behind. However, I had convinced myself that I didn’t want to be a slave to the money. That’s the whole reason why I escaped a life of corporate hell.

 

 

StatFuse was different, we actually made a difference and solved a problem that I went through not too long ago. It was time to flip the switch and become the entrepreneur I really wanted to be.

 

 

I put up my first business for sale and started working relentlessly on StatFuse. Within 3-4 months, I found a buyer for my first company and I was able to wipe my hands clean.

 

 

It was time for a new future and I immediately felt the difference. I wasn’t making any money, but I still felt better than I did when I was running JB Media Force.

 

 

The Lesson

 

Opportunities are great, but don’t jump at the first money you see. There are a lot of opportunities in the world and the whole reason why we become entrepreneurs is to avoid being a slave to the money.

 

 

If you build a business focused around being a cash cow, you eventually end up being a slave to the money one way or another.

 

 

How They Differ

 

Below are a list of 10 significant ways entrepreneurs differ from business-people:

 

 

1. Entrepreneurs take risks, businessmen play it safe.

 

 

2. Entrepreneurs innovate, businessmen recreate.

 

 

3. Entrepreneurs think with their minds, businessmen think with their wallets.

 

 

4. Entrepreneurs love what they do, businessmen don’t always.

 

 

5. Entrepreneurs focus on cooperation, businessmen focus on competition.

 

6. An entrepreneurs rival is himself, a businessman has many rivals.

 

 

7. Entrepreneurs are always busy on something new, businessmen are busy with the same things.

 

 

8. Entrepreneurs are usually excited, while businessmen are usually worried.

 

 

9. Entrepreneurs are market leaders, businessmen are market players.

 

 

10. Entrepreneurs focus on value, businessmen focus on profit.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared my story of how I went from businessman to entrepreneur in the last few years. Entrepreneurs make a difference, while businessman run businesses that are aimed at generating tons of revenue. What do you want to be known for?

 

 

photo credit: Jon_Tucker via photopin cc