What Kind of Entrepreneur Are You -?

Legends and stories about entrepreneurs captivate us all because it is always a story that attracts you - whether in the fashion industry, hospitality, construction, education, technology, or a social cause.

Many do it for glory, others for money, some for a social cause, and others become entrepreneurs out of their passion for technology - but the strong desire to fulfill a dream, whatever it may be, characterizes them all.

Some of the entrepreneurs want them all at once and quickly, others believe that they are urged by a social cause and find that they are more tempted to amass a great fortune, popularity or glory. The difficult moments of their journey show them who they are and what they want.

Looking at the clients I have worked with for the last 15 years, so far I have met three broad categories of entrepreneurs, whom I would name for this article: adventurers, dreamers, and "family entrepreneurs."

The adventurous entrepreneur

The adventurers behave like a Don Juan: they seek to conquer a territory, a position, a market segment by seduction, and once they manage to stick their flag where they set out, they go on in search of a new conquest.

Some of them leave behind reliable lieutenant-managers who will take care of the "family" that is starting to form and so the seed that they planted will start to grow and develop and the initiative can become a success, others - They are not interested in this and many of the planted seeds dry out, but this does not concern them as long as the seduction process continues.

They rarely find themselves in an entrepreneurial couple - because it doesn't define their loyalty.

They always build new companies, in different fields, in different areas, with different associates and travel a lot - not being attached to a specific space or their initiative: if there is an opportunity to sell their company they do it very easily regardless of the stage development because it is - because this is part of their way of existing. What name would come to mind that would fit into such a profile?

The dreamy entrepreneur

The dreamy entrepreneurs I have met talk a lot, get involved superficially, and start many initiatives, but they fail to plant a sufficiently vigorous seed to have a chance to grow. They are surrounded by such initiatives, just as children are surrounded by toys and play with them by pretending to be adults and in a real situation.

I talk to a lot of people about the potential of an idea they have, but the actions they take are more in their comfort zone and do not lead to progress, but only keep them busy and a means of fun. Some of them manage to find, at some point in their lives, different partners in profile, more pragmatic, more materialistic, and more realistic, with which to start mature initiatives and thus form very strong couples.

Others, after a while, see that the years go by, but the "toys" do not turn into real tools on their own, remain nostalgic, keep in their hearts with the intentions they had, but give up becoming entrepreneurs. What name would come to mind that would fit into such a profile?

The family entrepreneur

"Family entrepreneurs" want to build their organization and develop it as they would build their own family: because they offer loyalty to it, they expect loyalty in return from employees; and because he identifies with the organization they are building, he expects solidarity within it as well; they are concerned with giving a strong identity to the organization, and they are very involved in raising people in close circles and those who were among the first employees.

This type of entrepreneur often develops a single organization - which he perceives as a school where mistakes are often opportunities to learn, employees have the opportunity to learn from their own experiences and have a lot of freedom to take initiative. They will rarely hire an outside clan CEO to develop the company - and they hope that some of their first employees will take over this responsibility at some point.

It is the entrepreneurs who are most involved in the management of the organization - a space that becomes their second home: some learn to become good managers, others fail and thus sabotage their decisions by the random, contradictory and stubborn company. What name would come to mind that would fit into such a profile?

Sure, there's a lot more to say about each profile - but I think that's enough for a weekend article to have fun looking around and seeing what kind of entrepreneurs we know!