Don’t Be A Wantrepreneur – Take Action, Be An Entrepreneur

Wantrepreneur: n: someone who thinks about being an entrepreneur or starting a business but never gets started. (Source: Urban Dictionary)

There’s a lot of people in love with the idea of being an entrepreneur at the moment. It’s seen by some as being a twenty-first-century rock star. However, these people can be more talk than action.

Talking about entrepreneurship is fun and exciting. However, entrepreneurship is a practice. Ideas are important, but without taking action, you are not building a business, just dreaming about it.

The most disappointing thing for me as a University lecturer is seeing students who come up with great ideas but then don’t put them into practice. They may be studying entrepreneurship, but they are wantrepreneurs. On the other hand, when I see students using what I have taught them and having a go, even if they fail – that is the greatest reward I could ask for. That is true entrepreneurship.

Action: Make Sure You Don’t Become A Wantrepreneur

Here’s some tips to make sure you don’t become a wantrepreneur.

Do stuff – don’t talk about it: Entrepreneurs take action – Wantrepreneurs don’t. Get into the habit when you have an idea that you think has merit of immediately taking some simple action to test, research or implement it.

Find a simple way to test your idea: Thinking and planning are good – up to a point. At some point (preferably sooner rather than later), you need to take some action to validate your idea. If the validation is positive, continue to take action. If not, move on to the next idea. You don’t want to keep talking about it if it sucks. (That would definitely be being a wantrepreneur!).

The more you talk, the less likely you are to execute: Research has shown that our brains can’t tell the difference between talking about & visualising an idea, and actually doing it. Because our imaginations are so amazing, we can plan and visualise the whole process in our heads from product design to shipping and the more vividly we do it, the more our brains believe we have already accomplished it. While that’s great for our confidence, it is bad for our motivation to take action because our brains are telling us it’s already accomplished. So don’t be someone who only talks.

Set some specific goals & deadlines: So your brain can see you haven’t done it!It’s not going to be easy. It takes effort. But have a go. You’ll learn something and feel like you have accomplished something. And you will no longer be a wantrepreneur!

About the Author

Susan Jones is the founder of ReadySetStartup.com, helping aspiring entrepreneurs develop both the strategy and psychology to create winning businesses. She lectures in Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University and is passionate about empowering women entrepreneurs. You can grab a copy of her free Startup Blueprint: 5 Steps to Launching your 6 figure business.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.