Everyone is an Entrepreneur—Yes, Even You

by Cecily Breeding

When I was a kid and an adult asked me what I wanted to do or be when I grow up, I never said I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I would say I wanted to be a veterinarian, or an airline pilot like my dad, or the first female president of the United States (that always got a smile). But fast forward 20 years and an entrepreneur is what I am. I started freelancing at 24 and here I am still working for myself ten years later. Somehow I made it work. Even though I didn’t know what an entrepreneur was (probably couldn’t even spell the word) in grade school, that’s what I am today. And I have come to believe that everyone—yes, even you—is an entrepreneur. I know this because at the end of the day, we are all working for ourselves.

Regardless of your professional trajectory, I think it’s essential for your growth and development to start thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur for two reasons:

1) An entrepreneur is in the driver’s seat. An entrepreneur is the prime mover in ideating, laying the groundwork, and setting the trajectory of a business. It is up the entrepreneur to go out into the world, go hunting, kill something, and drag it home. This is a deeply empowering role for any human to play.

2) An entrepreneur is also the responsible party. When the day is done and the chips are down and things have gone well—or badly—the responsibility rests in the lap of the entrepreneur.

These two things: being the prime mover and the responsible party are characteristics typically ascribed to an entrepreneur. Now contrast that with standard workplace culture; it is the opposite of those two things.

In standard workplace culture, you are not in the driver’s seat. You didn’t create the company, write the organization’s vision and mission statements, hire the salespeople, or design the products and services. You play a small piece in a large machine. It is easy (and typical) to point outside yourself to the people who really call the shots.

In standard workplace culture, likewise, you are not the responsible party. When things go well or badly, you rarely feel the personal rush of glory or sting of failure. Because of the small part you play, it is easy (and also typical) to point outside yourself to the responsible party who really deserves to take ownership.

There are obvious flaws in this thinking. If you spend a third of your life (8 hours) sleeping, that leaves only 16 hours each day awake. If you spend 8 of those hours each day (approximately) at work, you’re spending HALF your waking life at work. Your work hours are valuable. The time you invest is valuable. Your life matters. Make a dent in this world. It is time to move from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat. Think of yourself as an entrepreneur.

I was first introduced to this concept of radical entrepreneurship in Dave Ramsey’s book, EntreLeadership. I’ve copied the excerpt below in which he tells the story of an employee of his who delivered pizzas in his spare time because it illustrates what I’m talking about so very well.

(from Chapter 6 in EntreLeadership)

I had an energetic and analytical young man working for our team during the day, but he wanted some more money so he decided to deliver pizzas. Anyone can just walk up to the door and hand someone a pizza. But John was not content with doing just the basic process because his best money came from tips, so he began experimenting with several variables that caused his tips to increase. He built a spreadsheet so he could graph the results of each of his ideas. First he found that given the territory of his pizza shop, if he left with more than three deliveries in his car at a time, by the time he got to the fourth one he was running late in the customer’s mind, and the proof was that often the pizza was cold. Two deliveries was inefficient and four was too many. He discovered that after ringing the doorbell he needed to take at least three steps back so the person answering the door was not intimidated by his height and presence.

He also found that when he could he should park his car in sight of the room where the TV likely was, so that someone would see him arrive and announce throughout the house, “Pizza is here!” After parking where people could see him in advance, he found he should jog slightly as he went to the door, showing he cared. He tried whistling while he ran and while he waited for the door to be opened. He even tracked whether one tune he whistled was better than another. He became very intentional about smiling and reminding them that the pizza was piping hot and delicious.

Other than calculating the proper number of deliveries to take at one time, thus making sure he delivered hot pizza, what he did to increase his tips the most was genius. John noticed that a large percentage of the time a dog greeted him with the family member ready to pay. Being a dog lover, he realized how it helped his tips if he would pet the family dog and make conversation about it. That is when he had his breakthrough: he went to the building supply store and bought a nail apron that tied around front with two pockets in it. He then put dog biscuits in the nail apron so he could give Fido a treat right in front of Fido’s master. Brilliant!

So your pizza delivery guy parks so everyone sees him coming, jumps out of the car jogging with service energy to the front door, whistles and smiles, steps back until the door is opened, gives your dog a treat, and hands you a piping-hot pizza as he is reminding you verbally that it is hot and delicious. If you don’t tip this guy lavishly you are a troll! Transpose that with the guy who pulled up in front of my house one time and sat in his car honking the horn until we walked out to the car, where he handed us the pizza through the car window and snarled how much we owed. See? Everyone is ultimately self-employed, aren’t they?

Great story right? I think about that pizza guy when I’m driving to a job or to meet with a client. How can I be better than the next freelancer? How can I add value to this experience? How can I turn this first-time client into a loyal customer and a raving fan? Ask yourself those kinds of questions and pretty soon you’ll be thinking—and acting—like an entrepreneur. Regardless of whether you ever start your own business, if you think of yourself as an entrepreneur, you will move from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat of your life.