Seems like everyday we hear something interesting or read something unexpected about entrepreneurism. Today is no different. We came across this proclamation from Bertie Stephens, co-founder of Flubit Limited:
I really don't like calling myself an entrepreneur. It doesn't mean anything any more.
For Bertie, entrepreneurism has become a dirty word, something that's flung about by wannabes and posers. Those wanting to be entrepreneurs as others would wish to be famous celebrities or best-selling authors. As we'd put it, those folks are distracted by the glitz and the glamour. It's understandable that Bertie, who works a some 16-hour day on his product, would feel frustrated with those who throw around the word "entrepreneur" so casually.
Instead, Bertie wants to think of entrepreneurism as doing. Being an entrepreneur is being a doer, as he puts it.
Make The Word Your Own
We've highlighted before how entrepreneurism and building great products doesn't just happen overnight. You've got to put one foot in front of the other and occasionally you'll have to take two steps back before you can take another step forward. It's something we've had to do many times over the years. But it takes doing as Bertie says.
And when we look up from our toiling, our doing, it can be infuriating to see others fling around the word "entrepreneur" so haphazardly. But we can't let that get to us. That doesn't make it dirty. We have to take back the word. Make it our own. It's not the word "entrepreneur" that defines what we do. What defines us is what we actually do.