Build Your Own Business: What Is It To Be An Entrepreneur? By Rod Kackley

What is it to be an entrepreneur? What is it like to wake up at 3 a.m. wondering where your next check is coming from? What is it like to fall asleep dreaming about tomorrow’s elevator pitch and waking up at 3 a.m. to refine it.

What is it to be an entrepreneur? It is to never take a day off, not really, because there is no way to turn an entrepreneur’s mind off. An entrepreneur is always looking for that next idea, always searching for a way to bring that next idea to market, and then looking for the next idea.

“Nobody dast blame this man. You don’t understand: Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there’s no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue riding on a smile and a shoeshine.”

This passage from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller describing the play’s protagonist, Willy Loman, reminded me of the life of an entrepreneur. 

We really are working without a net, aren't we? At least that’s what I think. What are your thoughts?

I do want to note that I pulled the Death of A Salesman off a blog post written by Porter Anderson on Jane Friedman’s Writing on The Ether blog. 

And here’s another line from Anderson’s blog post that struck me:

“And we’re all salesman on this bus.”

(c) 2014 Lyons Circle Publishing Inc.

Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Communitytells the stories of the people of Grand Rapids, the entrepreneurs of Grand Rapids and how they changed the way the world sees their community.

Last Chance Mile is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes, as well as on the shelves of Barnes & Noble-Woodland Mall, Schuler Books & Music-28th Street and West Coast Coffee-Monroe Center, Grand Rapids.

Last Chance Mile can also be ordered by your favorite bookseller.

For more of Rod Kackley's books, articles and essays, please download the free Rod Kackley mobile app for Android and iOS devices through Google Play or the App Store.