The entrepreneurial movement gained steam, I’d say, only in the past 3 or so years (or maybe I was too busy with other things that I didn’t notice it). These days, you hear about entrepreneur groups and entrepreneur movements. There’s a school for entrepreneurs and an entrepreneur caravan. In other words, there’s an awakened movement towards entrepreneurship.
The trend towards branding everything “entrepreneur” is clear from the fact that successful businessmen are no longer businessmen — they’re referred to (or call themselves) as successful entrepreneurs. Maybe it’s just a matter of rebranding or maybe it’s a way to spark interest among the general population to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. We should not lightly equate the concept of being a businessman with being an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is a businessman, and much more. But this is not the focus of this article.
The focus is about entrepreneur vs. employee. At first glance, the title of this article refers to the fact that in everyday working life, the interests of an employee is pitted against the entrepreneur or management. It is, of course, simplistic to assume that management is the same with the entrepreneur, because the entrepreneur — or the owner of the business — may not necessarily be involved in managing the business entity. Still, considering that management theoretically represents the owners of the business, we could say that the economic conflict is between the employees and the entrepreneurs.
However, as we already noted in a previous discussion, it could also refer to the entrepreneur-employee distinction. Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur. Some articles enumerate the differences in such a way that employees appear to be way less worthy than entrepreneurs. We have tried to soften this approach primarily because it is unfair, specially considering that the modern world has become a society of employees. As stated by Peter F. Drucker in his book “People and Performance” (Harvard Business School Press, 2007), today, “only one out of five is self-employed” and that the “employee of today is increasingly a midle-class person with a substantial formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual and technical skills.” These statements are made under the context that fifty years ago, being an employee means working as a factory worker or as a farmhand. Drucker is talking about the U.S., but the statistics most probably mirrors the Philippine setting.
Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) pointed to a paper entitled “A Perspective on Entrepreneurship,” written by Professor Howard Stevenson and published by the Harvard Business School. One of the differences between an entrepreneur and an employee that Mr. Kiyosaki found to be especially insightful, based on “A Perspective on Entrepreneurship,” is this: Employees are resource-oriented, while entrepreneurs are opportunity-oriented. This, of course, is only one of the major differences between an employee an an entrepreneur.
So, why can’t everyone be an entrepreneur? Why can’t those under the poverty line empower themselves and become entrepreneurs? What does it take to be an entrepreneur? Why can’t everyone be an entrepreneur? Let’s hear what you have to say. Your answers will synthesized later, for order’s sake. So, speak up now, or forever hold your peace.
Related posts:
- 10 Outstanding Entrepreneurs of 2008 (Entrepreneur Philippines)
- Entrepreneur: Nature or Nurture (Origins of the Entrepreneur)
- Poll: Are Pinoy Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
- Poll: Are all Business People Entrepreneurs?
- How do you determine Who are Pinoy Entrepreneurs?
- Are Filipinos Ready to Become Entrepreneurs?
- Food for Thought for New Pinoy Entrepreneurs
January 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
because there is more to it than owning a business. an entrepreneur are the one who innovates. they go out of theircomfort zone and create a new opportunity for themselves. most of us just follow the bandwagon and copy an existing venture (the reason why that venture will surely fail after a while because of saturation).
January 18th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Entrepreneurs are a different breed, a different class of people. They seem to stand out from the crowd. They walk and talk differently from non-entrepreneurs.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:42 am
Entreprenuers are never satisfied with just one venture. They go on to another and still another. Some may say that this is called serial ents, but you will actually see that ents or the more successful ones at least have more than one venture in which they practice being ents.
Their reason may be for the profit, the adventure or the “kill”, for their ego or altogether altruistic reasons, but there it is.
God bless!
March 16th, 2009 at 5:03 am
i believe this is true… sometimes employees just rely on the decisions of the authority… following every step laid in front of them… however an entrepreneur thinks of creative ideas that will open doors for him… thinking out of the box considering he is responsible for all the risks — losses or profits, of the business
Ive written an article regarding the creativity of entrepreneurs in this site: fadh22jana.blogspot.com
April 22nd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Why can’t everyone be an entrepreneur? Because not everyone is willing to change. Filipinos’ minds are set to be employees. It takes more than reading motivational books to change our inner programming (but it helps a lot).
Spend time with other entrepreneurs, especially successful ones to learn how they think. Napoleon Hill’s book is Think and Grow Rich, not Work Hard and Grow Rich.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:31 pm
[...] say that employees are resource-oriented, while entrepreneurs are opportunity-oriented, as we previously discussed. Still, a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or General Manager could be considered to have the traits [...]
April 26th, 2010 at 7:25 am
I believe the term “entrepreneur” has been branded to mean too many things at once. This leads to confusion, with people following advice that does not apply to their situation. I count at least three major types of people now labeled entrepreneur: the small business owner-operator, the guy or gal who runs the local cafe or hardware store or carpet cleaning business, or even sells a small inventory of products or services online; the person who wants to build a scalable enterprise, such as creating a software product and a company that will eventually be grow to a substantial size and might go public; the self-employed professional, such as an accountant or a freelance PR representative, who would rather have clients and customers than coworkers, team members, or managers.
While it’s probably true that all of these people share a desire to work work for themselves, their motivations beyond that are completely different. The freelance PR person may be happy with his job duties and salary, and just want out from under being bossed. The hardware store owner might feel alienated by the corporate life. The would-be corporate founder may be driven by the desire to make a lot of money; she may actually like corporate life as long as she gets to be the CEO.
Beyond some business fundamentals, the metrics, goals, strategies, and tactics for each of these individuals must be vastly different.
June 19th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
The reasons why can’t everyone become entrepreneurs are only few people innovate; only few take the risk and become accountable; only few are leaders; only few want to really help our country; most people want to put themselves in the safety.
November 7th, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Ive been an employee for almost 2 years as a bank teller, and then all of a sudden things change, Ive been involve into network marketing which I will say a key to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit within us because of the trainings they provide and in my company its absolutely free. Well I realized is this, not everyone can be a successful entrepreneur unless we are really eager to change, I mean its all in the mind. We really have to change our beliefs, most specially theres a “BIG” difference the way an entrepreneur and a employee thinks. All successful entrepreneurs have been rejected or failed not once,twice but many times in their careers, thats what I think really stands for a successful entrepreneur. Well In my opinion not everyone wants to fail
January 29th, 2012 at 11:33 am
Just like someone else documented what a this wonderful blog.