My name is Georges Saad. You probably don’t know me, but first, I’d like you to know that I’m neither a millennial nor a lazy person. I’m a co-founder of Spektrum , the SPK ecosystem , Snipcart and help and support several startups through our mentoring program Apollo13 .
On the other hand, our opinions diverge a little.
Especially on your last article, the entrepreneur lifestyle: there are some points on which I do not completely agree and I allow myself to qualify. By the way, sorry for the delay in responding to your article, I was on vacation and I just read it. 🙂
Risk versus commitment
I think it is important to distinguish the notion of risk from that of commitment. You can be very committed to a project with very different levels of risk. Yes, starting a business is the biggest risk an entrepreneur must take, on that, we agree.
But the notion of risk is something list of albania cell phone numbers very relative and should not be the measure of commitment. When you risk less, it does not mean that you are less committed, far from it!
For example, a father with four children has a very different notion of risk than a single person fresh out of school. This is completely normal.
Reading your article,
we understand that you sacrificed work routine boring or necessary? yourself for your business, but is it really the only way? At Spektrum, compared to your journey, we clearly did not take the same levels of risk and yet, we have never lacked commitment or success. I promote responsible entrepreneurship around the world and from a perspective of sustainability and slower growth speed, too great a sacrifice cannot last very long and can, sometimes, be a reason for failure!
Storytelling and the myth of relentlessness
The reasons for becoming an entrepreneur are multiple and personal to each person:
Create something prestigious (and be recognized for it)
Make as much cash as possible
Travel to the max and enjoy freedom
Have more time for family
Leave a positive impact
As the reasons, the means to achieve these ends are also different.
Some people prefer to work hard and tirelessly. They, let’s face it, need it to get that sense of pride and accomplishment. On the other hand, if an entrepreneur’s goal is to create a business that will hire 10 people and bring him enough money to live well, travel the world and be self-sufficient, that’s just as valid. Right?
In your article, you say how mind-boggling it is the number of entrepreneurs you meet who live off their business rather than living for their business.
My question is: what’s wrong with making a living from your business?
Your goal is to travel around the conduit china world with your family, so you want to create a business that will allow you to do so. Clearly, the efforts at the beginning will be greater and more numerous so that it can support you without dedicating body and soul to it.
Your goal is to have an impact in a certain field or for which
you will be recogniz, while allowing yourself to live from it. Satisfaction will come from the fact that you will always work very hard, until the day you say to yourself “I have had the impact I want now I will let myself live”.
In the end, it all comes down to your intentions. Then, you have to work on them to get there.
You always have to put in the effort, we agree! But in my opinion, the goals of the company you create are just as respectable and vari as there are entrepreneurs!
To go further, I even find that there is a danger of promoting the only model that we hear most often, that of great sacrifices and determination against all odds! It is a bit in our human nature to like storytelling , the stories of Hercules and Goliath and the underdog who ends up succeeding!
In my opinion, this is far from the most common model of the majority of companies. A successful company can have a smooth journey, without necessarily having to gamble everything and always be all-in .
Don’t you think that the success and sustainability of a business means that the entrepreneur does not have to work 80 hours a week and lets the business be carried on its own, rather than the number of employees and turnover?
The famous “wantrepreneurs”
Entrepreneurship has become sexy, we agree on that. “Wantepreneurs” are more present than ever.
However, we must not generalize and include an entire generation in this . In my opinion, we are in one of the most beautiful eras of entrepreneurship, and if there is one idea that can be generaliz it is that miocrity persists from one generation to the next.
Today, a good majority of entrepreneurs are aware of the social responsibilities of companies and the importance of the humans who make them up. We finally seem to be moving towards sustainable and lasting entrepreneurship. The opposite of barbaric entrepreneurs/companies obsess with spe and growth at all costs for purely commercial purposes. On the other hand, there are rotten apples everywhere. You just have to be careful of clichés. The coworking hipsters , you
‘ll see, they won’t stay in the landscape for long!
Finally, Nicolas, even if I don’t agree with your thoughts on this specific topic. I think we still agree on the majority of entrepreneurial principles. Let’s not promote generational clichés or stereotypes that are rarely positive. Instead. help us spread the message of sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship that favors healthy. intelligent and sustainable work rather than relentlessness. stubbornness and the obsession with growth at all costs. If you would like to discuss this in person, over a coffee. A beer or a glass of vodka. I would be more than happy to do so.
Georges Saad,