On Not Being An ‘Entrepreneur’

I have a few bones to pick with the term ‘entrepreneur’.

As a job description, that is.

###1 What do you DO?

A job description describes your craft, your body of work, what you bring to the cause.

‘Entrepreneur’ rightly suggests someone who creates things that didn’t exist before… but designers, developers, copywriters, engineers, and architectures all do that, too, don’t they?

I consider myself in many ways to be a designer, for instance; I design businesses, I design systems, I design teams, and I do so with the heart of a designer. Others may do those very same things with the heart of a developer. Or one of a negotiator. Or of an artist.

‘Entrepreneur’ doesn’t describe what you do well enough. What do you DO?

##**#2 Only the founders are allowed to use it **

Core team members, regardless of when they joined, all contribute massively toward the vision of a meaningful body of work or the company that produces it.

They wouldn’t be considered ‘entrepreneurs’ though, because they didn’t start it. At best, they’d be considered to be a ‘late-stage co-founder’, or something equally esoteric.

Great companies are great because of the great people in it and the great systems and works they produce, together. They’re all important, not just the person who started it.

##**#3 The title can be used without doing anything **

You know the ones. You’ve seen them on Instagram. A feed full of picture quotes and a head full of dreams.

But no action. And we’re okay with that.

But when someone calls themselves an artist, or an engineer, we expect more. “What have you painted?” “What tools do you use?” “Can I see your works?” “Have you sold any?” All sorts of questions start to emerge. Dreaming doesn’t count as action. Action counts as action.

Think about the title you assign to your work.