Occasionally interchanged, business owner and entrepreneur are two different beasts. Two different mindsets. An entrepreneur concerns him/herself with creating the future; synthesising an enterprise from a concept using their smarts, their ability to impress, motivate and sell. The entrepreneurial mindset is about creating, building, innovating and organising, in the determined hope of overcoming the inherent risks and going on to make a fortune.
The business owner’s mindset is focussed on managing and mitigating risk; improving efficiency and minimising mistakes. He is interested in sustainable and measured growth, whilst keeping everything as stable as possible.
The popular stories in the news and in books are usually about entrepreneurs who beat the incredible odds and become successful. Yet the reality is that most successful entrepreneurs go on to be business owners. You see, whilst there is a romance and mystique about being an entrepreneur, as a business owner, the pay cheques are bigger and life is a lot less stressful. Not to mention the fact that all of those people that followed the entrepreneur to help build his dream have school fees and mortgages.
Make no mistake, there is plenty of opportunity for business owners to innovate and build. So do erstwhile entrepreneurs make the best business owners? What’s your view?
Great article Evan, I definitely get caught up in the day to day operations of the business and dont do enough big picture planning.