16 Myths about Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship built America; it is one quality that has made America great. Are you aware of the myths about entrepreneurs?

What do these people have in common?

Christopher Columbus
Benjamin Franklin
Henry Ford
Thomas Watson
Thomas Edison
George Eastman
Ole Evinrude
Nolan Bushnell
Buckminster Fuller
Dean Kamen
Rosalyn Yalow
Percy Spencer
Jerome Lemelson
Steve Jobs

These folks are all entrepreneurs whose entrepreneurship created thousands of jobs.

Since 1983, two million manufacturing jobs have been moved offshore. You’ve seen the headlines or heard the presidential debates about companies that left the U.S. The loss of our nation’s manufacturing workforce in relationship to our economy was substantial because for every manufacturing job impacted, three-to-four other ancillary jobs are also lost.

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates 30 to 40 percent of all white-collar jobs such as architects, research scientists, engineers, chemists, and product development, will be outsourced over the next five years.

Years ago, the adage was: “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country”. Today we can say: “What is good for entrepreneurs is good for the country.”

Because according to a study by the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, small businesses account for only 4% percent of all companies, but they create 60% of all new jobs. And 96% of them have sales under a million dollars a year.

Entrepreneurship flourishes. So do myths about entrepreneurs.

Don’t get sucked in to misinformation about owning and running your legal nurse consulting business. Many of the myths about entrepreneurs affect your thinking about creating new businesses. They are just that: myths. Have you heard these?

1. MYTH: Plan your work and work your plan. Creating a compelling business plan and strategy is critical to success.
2. MYTH: Time is money. One way to build a compelling business is to show how a product or service saves customers time.
3. MYTH: Provide insanely great service. The way to become successful is to delight your customers with services that are far superior to the others on the market.
4. MYTH: Pursue a $1 billion market and if you capture only 5 or 10%, you will win big.
5. MYTH: Where there is a will, there is a way. Perseverance will overcome obstacles. In your darkest moments, never give up.
6. MYTH: If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. If you create an insanely great service, attorneys will clamor to hire you.
7. MYTH: It will take years to be profitable.
8. MYTH: Venture capitalists are your friend, your partner.
9. MYTH: It takes money to make money. Starting a company requires extensive resources/capital. One of the places to secure the needed risk capital is venture capitalists.
10. MYTH: Successful entrepreneurs are risk takers.
12. MYTH: Anyone can do it. Being an entrepreneur does not require special training. Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey — the founders of Twitter — are college dropouts. As is Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
13. MYTH: Bigger is better. Think Google, Facebook, Microsoft.
14. MYTH: You must believe. Belief in your product or service makes the difference between success and failure. Be an evangelist; be passionate about your product or service.
15. MYTH: It’s not what you know, but who(m) you know.
16. MYTH: The only LNCs who are successful have boyfriends or spouses who are attorneys.