Why Entrepreneurs Make Great Employees

Economies around the world have been challenging and as a result many people have found themselves jobless and looking for work. That, in many cases, becomes a futile effort because opportunities have been slim to none; supply being greater than demand. Job seekers have been forced to be creative to survive. As the old adage says, Necessity is the mother of invention. With bills mounting and families to support, many have ventured out to forge their own path and find their own paycheck by offering services, leveraging their own strengths, even hobbies to make a living. Many have succeeded too.

In other cases, people with a passion and longing to do more than their jobs would allow, take the risk and launch out with the expectation that their faith would not fail them and their business would succeed. These pioneers and entrepreneurial spirits decided that to stay in a rut was far more dangerous to them than to give their dream a try. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

For whatever the reasons, entrepreneurs find themselves back on the job market in order to rebound from a failed business or to get back into the corporate game that put them on the sidelines. The shocker, though, is that once you have been an entrepreneur, you have been labeled untouchable, unemployable, not a team player, or not able to commit to the structure and rigidity of a work environment. While it is true that the entrepreneur enjoys personal and financial freedom, the entrepreneurial minded person has much to add to a progressive organization.

1. Entrepreneurs have incredible work ethic.

When you work for yourself, you discover you have to work harder and smarter to make money and get results. When you work for yourself, unless you got the contract, followed up on clients, picked up the check, you have nothing to get in the bank on Friday. In the case of solopreneurs, you have no team to help you. You are the President, CEO, COO, CFO, Marketing, Sales, HR....everything. You perhaps end up working far more hours than the ordinary employee.

2. Entrepreneurs are resilient.

I know I have personally created and submitted countless proposals that end up on some busy executive's desk gathering dust and would have to get on the hamster wheel of calling, emailing, calling and emailing to follow up and see if someone made a decision. I have learned not to take 'no' personally but that it means I just have to keep trying harder and improving my approach. Entrepreneurs have to sell their ideas over and over again. Even after losses and disappointments, there is no room to wallow in defeat. Every day has to be a new chance that 'today is the big day' and you have to brush off yesterday and face today with all the optimism and positivity you can muster.

3. Entrepreneurs are creative and innovative.

When you don't have a budget for the things you take for granted as an employee, you learn to either do without, find what you need or make things happen with what you have. You become resourceful and you tap into people, knowledge, and systems in a way you didn't have to before. Ideas come to mind about methods, approaches, and processes like never before. You become instinctive and intuitive, following both expertise and gut. You make a way out of no way, you make it work, not because you want to but because you have to. Don't believe me? Watch Pursuit of Happyness featuring Will and Jaden Smith.

4. Entrepreneurs are committed.

It seems that the prevailing thought by employers is that entrepreneurs cannot commit. Entrepreneurs cannot work the 9-5. Entrepreneurs cannot work along with others because they are so used to working on their own or by their own rules. Entrepreneurial minded people are committed to vision, first of all. What frustrates progressive people is an organization that has no clear picture of where it's headed, or led by people that are static, closed minded, resistant to change, stuck in old patterns and insecure about their own ability and worth. It is a proven fact that people don't leave jobs, they leave people and chaos. Entrepreneurs understand that it also takes a committed team to make things work. Sometimes it is only the vision that keeps people along for the ride. I recently spoke with a business owner that had to ask her staff to take pay cuts because they lost 50% of their clients coming into the new fiscal year. The staff agreed and the business is growing again. Those types of conversations are some of the hardest in the world to have with people you feel responsible for. Entrepreneurs demonstrate great commitment to responsibility, accountability, family, survival, success, and results.

5. Entrepreneurs are willing to do the impossible to accomplish the vision.

At the end of the day, entrepreneurs are willing to do what it takes to see the business succeed - whether their own or someone else's. Entrepreneurs have an amazing sense of ownership, and this is a leadership quality that many employers seek in their organizations: people who are willing to act as if it were their company and treat it as such. If this were my company, I would be an effective steward over my time, my supplies, my talent, and my attitude toward its growth and success. Leaders don't worry about the clock or taking lunch. Leaders don't worry about who's fault it is...let's fix the problem, satisfy our clients and deal with the other stuff later. That is how entrepreneurs and leaders think. Average employees think: let me put in my 8, get paid and get on out of here. Don't be fooled: many of the 'good employees' you think you have that are so diligent and report on time all the time if given the opportunity would leave in a minute. I was a dutiful employee with a letter of resignation saved on my computer, waiting for the day I could click print. I have seen people play the game of showing commitment and loyalty to company and behind closed doors laugh at the leaders and plan their exit strategy.

In this tight economy, recruiters and employers should take a different perspective of entrepreneurial people, and not be guided by fears and bias. Wouldn't you rather take a chance on someone that has shown that they will not lay down and play dead, sitting at home waiting for the next big break but rather make the most of the hand they were dealt and instead created their big break themselves and gave birth to something great? I know I would.

If you are ready for change, you may contact Simmone L. Bowe for transformational speaking, training, or consulting at:

Email [email protected] Tel. 242-601-6014 or 242-458-8938