I Want to Be an Entrepreneur but I Don’t Know What to Do

Kathleen Shannon 0:02
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Emily Thompson 0:29
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Kathleen Shannon 1:10
All right, what are we chatting about today?

Caitlin Brehm 1:13
I've seen this question a lot. There are a lot of people who listen to being boss, and unsurprisingly, get inspired. And a lot of people are saying, okay, I want to be an entrepreneur, I have this entrepreneurial drive. But I don't know what to do or what to offer. So what would you say about figuring out what your calling is, if you want to be an entrepreneur,

Kathleen Shannon 1:38
okay, I don't have the answers to this because it's a little too vague to like really dig in and without talking to someone specifically about their situation. So I think a lot of this conversation is going to be based on assumptions. So maybe we can hit it at a few different angles. One of the first angles I want to touch on is that if you want to be an entrepreneur, but you don't know what to do, I don't know if you really do want to be an entrepreneur, like all the entrepreneurs, I know can't help but want to monetize everything. Like they literally can't do anything without thinking about how they can make some money on it.

Emily Thompson 2:15
Right? Or they're following a passion and entrepreneurship is the byproduct of them doing the thing they want to do like I think pretty, I don't want to say too rarely, because I definitely know people who are like this, but for like, rarely. Rarely do people want to be an entrepreneur, it's usually just the thing that comes from them doing the thing they actually want to do. So I feel like it's almost backwards to go at it this way, however,

Kathleen Shannon 2:40
right? It's like he's the one saying like, I want to be famous, but I don't know what I want to be famous for. But you have to like, feel famous for a lot of things. Right? Some of them good. Some of them not so good.

Emily Thompson 2:52
Right, so so I do I do also have to question question, you're wanting to be an entrepreneur, or at least I want you to dig into what about entrepreneurship? Is it that you like? Is it being your own boss? Is it making your own rules, all these things? In that case, you're just a rebel, you're not a business owner, like there, I think there is a bit of a difference there, which is good and fine. But you need to find the thing. I recently read a book called rocket fuel that talks about this a little bit not quite in this context. But it came up for me whenever I heard this question, the idea that a company is headed by two different people, a visionary, and an integrator. Usually the visionary is the entrepreneur. And the integrator is the person that helps takes the entrepreneurs vision and actually make it happen. Because rarely does a pure visionary have the ability to actually integrate ideas into fruition. And the book also touches on the idea of what happens if you think you're a visionary, and you end up being the integrator and I think for this person, or anyone who fills this, you are not the visionary that's going to head a company as the person with the idea that makes a do, you're going to be the person who goes into someone else's company, and acts as the person who takes the vision and turns it into whatever it may be. So I challenge whoever feels this way to one read the book and consider if that's not where you actually find yourself because I do believe that I don't want to say true entrepreneurs, because I don't really mean it that way. But I think entrepreneurs in the sense that Kathleen and I usually speak to are the people who are following passion first with entrepreneurship following.

Kathleen Shannon 4:33
Okay, I think that there's this thing happening in our world, especially if you're listening to being boss, and you're listening to other podcasts like ours, or, you know, it's consuming a lot of Instagram stories or media otherwise from entrepreneurs. We're like, this is this glamorous life, right? And we're a part of that I'm not gonna lie like we're a part of this world that is glamorizing living what you love and making a living on your creativity. And that's true, but it's also a job, right? So I want to make sure to point that out as well like that there are days where I would not wish entrepreneurship on anybody. And so if you don't know what you want to do, it might be worthwhile exploring different day jobs that are more creative, and seeing what you actually like doing and getting paid at the same time. So this is what I want to mention here is that it's not just about like, looking at what you want to be doing, but really figuring out how to make money, even if that's working for somebody else. Okay. I also wanted to maybe tap Caitlin's brain a little bit here. Because I think that you've experienced this like, I think that you've actually experienced the glamour of entrepreneurship and the other side of it, and that maybe it's not entirely for you. So could you speak a little to that if you're comfortable? Yeah,

Caitlin Brehm 5:52
100%. And I actually read rocket fuel. Around the same time, as I think both of you did,

Emily Thompson 5:57
we were reading at the time. And it was it was just some being boss magic. But when it really

Caitlin Brehm 6:02
is, I would highly recommend it to anybody, really, it will speak to you, if you're a CEO, or if you're a virtual assistant, or if you work for a company and you don't really have a leadership position, it really gives you the vocabulary to sort of put this conversation into words. And actually, along with Emily was saying about this integrator visionary situation is that it specifically said in one part, that many integrators, so people who aren't the boss, but help make things happen, initially think that they are a visionary. Because an oftentimes, and this is true for me, when you enter the workforce, you might be working for a company that you don't believe in, you might be working for people who don't love what they're doing. And so your job isn't fulfilling, because you can't really connect to it in a way that people who do are creative entrepreneurs, they love what they do. And that's contagious. Everybody wants that. But you don't necessarily have to be the boss in order to get that. And this is what I found. And I was on the podcast as my own boss, I did try and, you know, start my own business. And I think it's something that I could do later on in life, for sure. But I found once I started working with both of you here at being boss, that what I really loved was working for something that was empowering other people that I was working with other co working with other people who truly believed in what they were doing and truly cared about each other as co workers. So I think that a lot of people who listen to this, that's what they're latching on to is they want to love what they're doing. And you can love what you're doing, even if you're working for somebody else.

Emily Thompson 7:50
Amen. And thank you, that's so fantastic. I and I also completely agree with you, I used to think that entrepreneurship was the cure all, where if anyone I knew was having a problem with their job, oh, he should just quit and start your own business. But as I have grown, both as an entrepreneur, but also, as a human, I see now that not everyone can do this. I think it looks shiny and exciting, and all of these things, but the amount of pressure that comes from making so many decisions, and not just for yourself, but for a group of people who are depending on you, whether that's your customers or community, or your team is not the kind of stress and anxiety that most people can take very healthily. And so for that reason, I completely agree, I think I think if you see yourself wanting to be an entrepreneur, but don't know what to do yet, do you have a lot of legwork to do, maybe you are an entrepreneur, you are just waiting for your big magic moment to solve all those problems. To give you the idea that you can run forward with, or you have a lot of work to be doing both in finding a source of income that you believe in, whether that's working for yourself or working for someone else. It's finding the skills that you see as plainly what it is that you are here to offer the world as an entrepreneur or otherwise. And you need to grasp on to the fact that perhaps entrepreneurship is not for you at this time. And to do all the legwork between here and there, wherever there may be

Kathleen Shannon 9:20
alright, but I'm going to give some of our bosses a few like really tactical actionable if you need to find what you love doing kind of advice. Okay. So one is thinking about what you want to be doing all day. So really think about it, like maybe you literally think I would just like to be watching Netflix all day. Okay, well, maybe you start a blog as a movie reviewer, right? Or maybe you think I like hanging out on social media. Maybe you become a social media marketing expert. So there are different things that you could be doing. I would start by looking at what is it that you already like doing

Caitlin Brehm 9:55
so kind of along that idea. I would recommend to everybody No matter if you definitely want to be your own boss, or maybe not, is to start talking about your life. So like start a blog, start a podcast, start a YouTube channel, something that's like a super hobby, and just see kind of what sticks if people are asking you questions about it or want to know more. And that's something that you also love doing or sharing information about, that could be a business. But if it isn't a business, it could be a great connection with somebody who might employ you because they see something in you that they want to work with. So either way, I think establishing I guess, more or less like a personal brand, that you kind of that just starts out as a hobby that you don't try and monetize, will open a lot of doors to something that you're going to be happy with.

Kathleen Shannon 10:48
But let's also talk about monetizing because what separates a hobbyist from an entrepreneur is the ability to make money. So we have a worksheet called make $100 today, and that's what I would challenge anybody, even if you think that you have zero viable ideas, what would you literally do to make $100? Today, I'm sure that you can come up with an offering, even if it's mowing somebody's lawn, right. And I think that there is this kind of hustle that entrepreneurs have that if you don't if you know, you want to be an entrepreneur, but you don't know what you want to do. Well, an entrepreneur would make $100 doing whatever they would figure it out, right? And so I would challenge you to that to make $100 today and see what comes of that. And guess what you can always change your mind if you decide that you don't like mowing lawns. Okay, lesson learned. I definitely know I don't want to do that. So maybe you can learn what you like to do by doing things that you don't like to do, but are paying you.

Emily Thompson 11:43
Yeah, and if none of those are quite sticking for you find someone that you can help grow their business, I think there needs to be more managers in the world. I think with all the people we talked to, they are great creatives, possibly great entrepreneurs, not always the best managers. The world needs more managers.

Kathleen Shannon 12:02
I have one more I remember what it was get an astrological reading.

Emily Thompson 12:06
I love you. Yeah, everybody go get your birth chart read,

Kathleen Shannon 12:10
I know that this is super woowoo. But it's so fascinating. Whenever you can have someone who is well versed in astrology, read your chart, because where your planets are, when you're born can really tell a story about you. And so for me, a lot of my planets around expression, and around communication, and creativity are all in my work house. So I know I'm exactly where I need to be. And I'm doing exactly what I should be doing. And it's a race to any self doubt that podcasting and writing books and branding is for me, like it is 100% for me. So you might have your chart read.

Caitlin Brehm 12:51
And I have like five planets in Capricorn, which is like doing task mastering. So

Kathleen Shannon 13:00
there you go. I'm doing love. And you know what's funny about this too, I have a friend that had her chart read and she didn't have any planets in her work house. And it actually gave her a lot of permission to release the need to be an entrepreneur, so you never know what you might find.

Emily Thompson 13:19
Love it, go do that. That's the best tip I think I've ever heard you give Kathleen a high five that all day and go see if you want to be an entrepreneur or not. Because it's just go run someone else's business for a minute that'll really let you know if you want to do this on your own.

Kathleen Shannon 13:34
And all the aspects maybe go run someone's bucks and then go run someone else's marketing and then go run somebody else's doing the thing,

Emily Thompson 13:42
right and then fire someone, someone or whatever it may be like really dig in there and see if it's something you want to do. You might find that you do or that you find that you do. There you go.

Kathleen Shannon 13:57
This minisode was brought to you by Twenty20. Check them out at twenty20.com/beingboss that's t w e n t y 20 as in the number.com slash being boss.

Emily Thompson 14:11
Did you like this minisode Be sure to check us out on our website at beingboss.club. There you can find more from being boss including our full episodes minisodes and blog posts. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you can get access to behind the scenes and exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work be boss