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Pausing from entrepreneuring to reflect on entrepreneuring
At some point this month, my business right-hand, Jes, told me that November 19 was National Entrepreneur Day. I gave that news a quick “Awesome. I love celebrating entrepreneurs! Yay us!” and then got back to the work of entrepreneuring. Who picked such a busy time for National Entrepreneur Day anyway? I mean come on — small businesses everywhere are in full hustle mode right now. At Asana Consulting, we’re wrapping up our 2019 work, reflecting on this past year, setting our 2020 business vision and plans, and queuing up the first exciting new projects of the new year. Then in mid-December we will switch the channel to Holiday Hiatus mode for some well-deserved rest and play so we can enter 2020 rejuvenated and ready to rumble.
To celebrate National Entrepreneur Day 2019, I’m stepping away from the pre-holiday, end-of-year hustle to share six musings — one for every year of this entrepreneurial adventure called Asana Consulting plus one more for good luck— on what being an entrepreneur means to me today.
#1: It goes deep
Being an entrepreneur is at the heart of who I am. I am wired for it. I’m a dreamer and a doer in equal measures. My mind moves fast and loves to churn out ideas about innovative products and services that can make money and drive social impact (which makes me what is called a social entrepreneur). I’m spirited and passionate and creative. I’m adventurous — I tackle challenges and I am willing to take risks. I’m easily bored and I’m allergic to monotonous routine. I’m hard-charging and stubborn (or tenacious as my mom says) and independent. My insatiable drive to continuously learn and improve in my work powers an obsessive love for my library of books, articles, websites and podcasts by and for entrepreneurs. I am competitive and driven, like a typical Taurus. I see problems as opportunities and welcome complexity and collaboration. I’m the oldest sister of four kids who will probably tell you that their biggest sister likes to be the boss.
#2: The path to the “yes” moment is your life
As clear and obvious as my natural orientation to entrepreneurship is to me today, getting to the point of knowing this and saying yes to it took decades of self-discovery and self-reckoning. I started my first business —…
