Society’s importance of entrepreneurship
We have reached peak obsession with the pursuit of entrepreneurship. The internet has made everything easier for us, but notably the gaining of knowledge in order to set up our own business. Which stems from the way in which we live and broadcast our lives through social media. Love it or not, social media is a driving force in the way other people influence our lives. Seeing how the other half live, the access to information and knowledge, and our need to show others that we are successful all amalgamate into one ideal. The pursuit to own our own business.
Owning a business is deemed by (worldwide) society as the ultimate freedom and key measure of your success in live. Building something into a thriving business, making your own money, the hard work that goes into it and the countless hours of work to get it off the ground. It’s both painstakingly difficult but the satisfaction of doing so is normally what drives people to do it. Some people thrive off the stress, others seek fame and glory, and others do it because they love it hands-down. although you have to love something so much in order to put time into it, for the people who do it just for the love, they do it because they wholeheartedly love it. I know this love, because it’s something I maintain with design. I don’t seek fame or fortune, I simply design for the love of design.
We need our societal views to switch to a mindset where we pursue what we love because we love it, not because society deems owning a business as success.
Society is so focussed on being an entrepreneur that it pushes an agenda whereby you feel like the only way to be happy and successful in life is to own/run a ‘Fortune 500’ business. We see this on social media – posts from media and news companies pushing success and motivational stories, business articles about entrepreneurs and success from aggregators like Pocket and Medium crop up on most digest and email newsletters. We are fascinated by becoming business owners, because we are fascinated with becoming successful.
We are constantly on the pursuit of success. To show the world that we are important, that we mean something.
This is what we do as humans. We are always searching for a better version of ourselves. This is how a capitalist society works. We’re not buying products or services because we want to, we are buying better versions of ourself.
Changing our views on success
You need to define what success means for you.
Take a step back from what society views as successful and think about yourself. What do you want to do, what makes you happy, what do you want to dedicate your life to learning and being known for? what legacy will you leave behind?
Live the life you want to life, not a life others think you should. Believe it or not – not everyone aspires to own a business, or a yacht, or be a multi-millionaire. It’s these people, the people who do what they love for the sake of loving what they do, that you will find the most comfortable with their life. The most humbled in their situation. They understand what they want to achieve in their life. Just because it’s different to this current trend of becoming being listed in a ’30 under 30′ list, doesn’t mean their goals aren’t as hard to achieve.
In many forums, specialist websites, comments sections about entrepreneurship and owning a business, there is a very real stigma of looking down on employees. Referring to people who work for others as ‘modern slaves’, or in some sort of ‘rat race’ etc. When you experience different situations, read a lot, you can compile an understanding of how the world works. This view [of looking down on someone because they don’t spend every waking moment striving towards owning a business] is far from how the world works. Everyone’s situation is different and you can’t judge a person or a group as something because they haven’t got the same views or goals as you.
Society holds those with ideas in high regard. People with ideas fail too. In fact, 80% of businesses fail (perhaps higher). Yes they are the ones brave enough to take the risk, and they reap the rewards of all the hard work they put in, which is truly an achievement. But they also need talented employees to build this idea. This is why we need to put more emphasis on those who pursue what they love to do. Becoming prolific at your passion, working hard at it, and constantly learning new skills within it is as hard as setting up a business. It may not have the same monetary rewards, and may not have as much at stake. But have you ever stopped and figured that money isn’t everything for some people. It can be a lifelong pursuit to be the best you can possibly be at this thing.
A business succeeds through the talent of its employees.
Employees that study for years, continue to build their knowledge, practice their skills regularly, share within their respective community, and yearn to become the greatest at what they do. This is the pursuit of success.
It’s about defining your own success and what that is for you. We are exposed to this ideal of owning your own business and earning 6 figures a year, as how you will be branded as a success. It’s absolutely not. Success is in the eye of the beholder. We need to start educating people that s so that we can change our mindset on it, and that a future generation won’t grow up to think that owning a yacht is a the only measure of success.
Choose to do what you love to do. The people who do this that I have met in the design and creative industry don’t seek fortune, they seek to be compensated for their knowledge and skill. The better at the skill you are, the more money you earn. It’s really that simple. Those people want to be the best artist, or the best designer, painter, 3D modeller, writer etc.
The driving force for them is the accomplishment of skills and a collection of knowledge about their industry.
That’s not to say that there is anything inherently bad about entrepreneurship, or owning a business, I own my own business. It’s about opening our views to people who work for others, giving employees more credit where credit is due. It’s often the CEO of big business that gets the credit. but it’s the prolific skills and talent of the everyday people who work in that business who should be thanked for keeping it alive.
Although we have now reached peak entrepreneur. We are starting to see more precedence put on keeping excellent employee’s and aiming to keep them. But business owners need to understand the plight of the creative –
Creative people often aren’t motivated by money. This is where the ‘starving artist’ accolade was born. A lot of creatives are driven by the pursuit of bettering themselves and their skills. They want an environment in which their skills are tested and which they can learn to better themselves. So that they can use these skills for themselves, on their own projects, on the other things they love to do.
We need more credit for skilled employees and a shift in mentality towards owning a business and those who work in that business. A business lives and dies with its employees.
It’s your life, do what you love regardless of what people think.
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