Runner. Writer. Entrepreneur?

The other day I updated my LinkedIn profile.

It started out simple enough. I wanted to do some general maintenance. It was long overdue, and it got me thinking.

I rewrote my headline. I added the word “writer”, because just as I believe even the slowest, least experienced runner is still a runner, I believe anyone who writes is a writer. You don’t necessarily have to get paid to write to be a writer, you just have to write. The title comes when you feel comfortable identifying yourself as such, not when someone else says it’s okay.

I also added the word “entrepreneur”, because I feel that I’m at my best when I think and work like an entrepreneur.  I thrive when there is a problem and something has to be created, or completely rethought to solve it. I enjoy questioning existing practices and developing methods that disrupt the status quo.

But here’s the thing.

You can’t exactly wear the title of “entrepreneur” the same way you can adopt “runner”, or “writer” when you feel comfortable identifying yourself as one.

It’s one thing to have an entrepreneurial mindset, it’s a whole other to actually BE an entrepreneur. So who IS an entrepreneur?

• My parents, who sell and restore antique furniture, art, and collectibles
• My sister, who does contract work in interior decorating
• My friends, who own and operate a local running store
• My mentors, who have their own HR and Organizational Development consultancies
• Every vendor at San Antonio’s First Friday Art Crawl
• People I meet every day, making it work full-time or on the side as a passion project

Entrepreneurs are everywhere, in all stripes, in all levels of commitment and skill and there’s a part of me that thinks – KNOWS – that that’s a part of who I am, and perhaps it’s what I’m best at.

Quitting my job isn’t an option, nor would I want it to be. I just want to see what I’m capable of. The problem is that it’s terrifying to bet on yourself, even if only for a few hours a weekend.

For me, step one is owning it, admitting it, saying it out loud, on this blog and in ways as trivial as updating my LinkedIn headline.

Everyone starts somewhere I suppose.

Image credit: "Dülmen, Viktorkirmes auf dem Overbergplatz -- 2014 -- 3738" by © Dietmar Rabich, rabich.de - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons