It’s never easy to be an entrepreneur. Many individuals who tried their hands on the entrepreneurial game must have realized this a few months into the business. One of the challenges facing an entrepreneur is the fact that he/she must perform a number of distinct roles.

The Technician. Some entrepreneurs started on their own because they believe they have the skills and expertise to deliver a good service or product. Some entrepreneurs started even with limited knowledge, but gaining more expertise once the business has started. Whatever the path taken on the way to the top, an entrepreneur gains success by being good – nay, the best – in what he/she does. Being a great Technician, however, does not guarantee success and, in fact, may be a reason for an entrepreneur’s downfall. This is the point in our discussion on e-myth. Read The E-Myth Revisited (Why Most Small Business Don’t Work and What to Do About It).

The Manager. We love the exciting stuff. And being the Technician or the Marketing Guru is definitely more exciting than keeping tab of income and expenses, maintaining the books, encouraging the staff, dealing with office concerns, ensuring compliance with government/reportorial requirements and all other tasks of a Manager. No matter how boring it may be, it’s something that must be done. The entrepreneur cannot run away from this task because the business usually starts small, oftentimes with only the entrepreneur at hand to do everything. Think small and medium enterprises or SMEs.

The Marketing Guy. So, you spend whole day performing the functions of the Technician – you create the products or perform the services. In your spare time or in the evening, you prepare the books and do the rest of the work done by a Manager. But we know that a particular saying is not entirely true: if you build it, they will come. How will people know about your business? How will you earn when people don’t know that your business even exists. Even if you attain a break-even status in your sales, how could you expand the business? The answer is marketing. You can also call it networking.

Still, a true entrepreneur simply loves to do it – whether that “it” refers to the challenge of making something grow or the fun of doing a particular thing. Earning more money seems to be the bonus of the entire challenge. If it were otherwise, considering the number of failures that an entrepreneur may go through, he/she will simply burn out and give up. Not everyone is built that way. And that’s why not everyone is an entrepreneur.

• Poll: Are Pinoy Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
• Entrepreneur vs. Employee: Why can’t everyone become Entrepreneurs?
• Poll: Are all Business People Entrepreneurs?
• Pinoy Entrepreneurs All
• Are Filipinos Ready to Become Entrepreneurs?
• How do you determine Who are Pinoy Entrepreneurs?
• Do we Need More Entrepreneurs or more Opportunities?