I Surveyed 100 Entrepreneurs About Growth Here’s What I Discovered

Absolutely nothing.

Wait that’s not really true I’ve learned lots by meeting entrepreneurs however getting an entrepreneur to complete a survey is almost impossible.

Backstory; I recently attend a business growth event and one of the group exercises was to guess what percentage of entrepreneurs thought or acted in response to certain questions.
Stuff like;
“70% of entrepreneurs work longer hours than those in employment” and
“40% of entrepreneurs are risk takers”.
What a load of crap I thought.

Firstly, let me get this straight, what many so-called experts and bloggers call entrepreneurs and what I call entrepreneur seems to be very different. It appears that the term entrepreneur has been declassified to mean anyone either in business or even self-employed. THIS REALLY WINDS ME UP! Almost as much everyone is “passionate” about their clients and the Americanism that everything is “Awesome”.

Here’s what I call an entrepreneur (in the business sense);

• A creative thinker
• A risk taker
• A competent delegator
• Sees how to monetise a concept
• Has simultaneous, multiple income streams or ideas on the go
• They outsource tasks they don’t want or can’t do
• They focus on the big business issues without being distracted by over thinking small issues

So this eliminates most business owners. And, hey, this is only my opinion. Having run 2 businesses I wouldn’t call myself a natural entrepreneur.

I have met and worked with well over 200 business owners and mentors in the past 5 years; coaching, mentoring, interviewing and studying them (I didn’t tell them that when I met them of course). I am confident that less than 10% of self-employed people are actually entrepreneurial. But hey this is not necessarily a bad thing, choosing to start your own business is incredibly difficult and I admire anyone who is brave enough to follow their ambitions, unlike many corporate robots addicted to a monthly salary.

I met my good friend David Beharall last week and had the same discussion. In my opinion, he is an impressive entrepreneur and his fantastic business Candidsky demonstrates this. However he, like other entrepreneurs I know, wouldn’t actually call himself an entrepreneur more of an MD. Only when he’s finished in business would he reflect on labeling himself as an entrepreneur.

Here’s my main point. It seems that the word entrepreneur has been reclassified to mean self-employed. So how can an accurate survey be done of entrepreneurs anyway?

In my experience entrepreneurs wouldn’t waste their time by completing surveys and wouldn’t even call themselves an entrepreneur.

What word will be slaughtered next, messiah, guru, billionaire…

Rant over! Go live your dreams and enjoy your life!

Andy Hall

Can't say no to a challenge. Hate labels.
Husband and Dad first, then...Mentor, Coach, Volunteer, Ambassador.
Mentoring Relationship Lead at the GC Business Growth Hub. Made in Manchester's Mentor Of the Year and Commended Mentor Of the Year.
Writing about Mentoring, Mental Health and lessons learned.