The Self-Discovery of the Entrepreneur

For an entrepreneur the first step to turn your dreams into reality is self-study. You must investigate which talents and passions you have to discover who you really are at the core. Combining your dreams with your passions and talents in a healthy way is a step in the right direction, but unfortunately it is not enough. There is still a third, external element of influence, namely the market. That brings the total number of factors involved in entrepreneurship to three: talents, passion and the market. In his excellent book The Start-Up of You (2012) Reid Hoffman describes how this triple combination is essential for each of us.

As a starting entrepreneur, you are an apprentice who has hours to train before your profession can provide you with a stable financial basis. At this point, there are three routes to consider:

  1. You start as an independent entrepreneur. You combine your passions and your talents with a market where there is a need for what you can uniquely offer. This can happen in all sorts of ways. For some, this may mean that after countless years of practice, you still prefer to work alone (or with a single partner). For others, such as Jeroen and Robin, this may mean that over the year you build an entire team around you, that will grow and evolve with your company.
  2. You choose a mutualistic employment. You find a company or organization that is willing to give you the chance to grow from student to professional over the coming period of five to seven years. Your employer pays your education and training fees so that you can fully focus on developing your profession. At any point after the learning period, you can choose to become an independent entrepreneur.
  3. You choose sustaining employment. You priority is to find a job that first and foremost supports your financial needs. You decide to develop your talents and entrepreneurial skills in your free time. This path has the advantage of few financial risks in the short term. A disadvantage is that the development process is often delayed (because there is less time to practice) and the entire process will take much longer. If you spend at least twelve to fifteen hours a week in the development of your talents, becoming a professional with this trajectory takes two to three times longer (approximately ten to fifteen years).

There is no “one size fits all” path for everyone. Just as your passions and talents are unique, the way in which you approach entrepreneurship and mastery is unique too. There are countless paths that go from student to professional, and perhaps even make it to mastery.

Tips to Discover yourself:

  1. Evaluate your own skills set through a skills game, workshop and feedback from others.
  2. Ask the question: How does my unique talents and passion connect to the market I want to reach?
  3. Choose the route that will fit you most and design your growth path for the first 2 years

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