Entrepreneurs are indeed a unique breed. Sometimes it can be a long lonely journey to the top. Friends and family may brand you as crazy. You may be poverty-stricken and struggling to pay the bills. But there is a bright side to all the grinding and hustle that you tirelessly put yourself through day in and day out. There are many hidden blessings of being an entrepreneur that you may just pass over.
With the help of the Unstrapp’d community, I have compiled a list of 50 ways you can tell if you have entrepreneurialism in your DNA. If you think you may be an entrepreneur, but you just are not quite sure yet, you can use this as a check list. If some of these resonate with you…ding ding ding. You’re an entrepreneur! The first 10 are a few of the hidden gifts I have noticed at some point in my life and the rest to follow are the brilliance of our community in no particular order. Enjoy!
You can tell you’re an entrepreneur when…
(Bradley’s List)
1. Being broke has health benefits because you have no money (or even the desire) to pound cocktails at the bar.
2. You have just realized right now you have no idea what day or time it is.
3. Your Saturday feels exactly the same as a Tuesday and Mondays mornings are your favorite time of the week..
4. No matter how many times your friends and family ask you what you do, you know they still have no idea what you do.
5. Your Facebook about me section gets outdated every single week.
6. You plan your day around not getting caught in the rat race. I mean rush hour traffic.
7. You start showing your smarts to the all the neighborhood kids by creating the best leaf-raking business model in history.
8. You need a notepad instead of a microphone in the shower and you have one right beside your bed.
9. You have to choose between buying food today versus putting your last cash in your business so you can eat tomorrow.
10. You are desperately in need of money and you can think of 10 ways to create it on demand.
(Favorites from the Unstrapp’d Community)
11. The thought of going to college to learn how to work for someone has always been troubling for you. -Kyle Kelley
12. When blood, sweat & tears are the opening course, and you’re ready for 5 more before dessert. You know you’re cooking with a recipe for success. -Tom Rolfson
13. Your first inclination to answer the question was to think of your own strongest traits. -Jaynen Marshall
14. You get more exercise talking to yourself and pacing than the average person does in their entire daily activity. -Jaynen Marshall
15. You think more about partnering with your employer, than you do advancing (if you still have a 9 -5). -Jaynen Marshall
17. The idea of working for someone else makes you want to throw up! -Neil Thakkar
18. You shake with enthusiasm and haven’t even had any caffeine. -Alex Rinehart
19. You haven’t slept since Saturday determined to finish a project. -Arthur Tubman
20. You would rather be homeless than ever be anything but the boss! -Scott Newman
21. You don’t just say I would go homeless, but you actually did rather than ever going back to work for anybody. -Bob Swiderski
22. You refuse to live a life of mediocrity and you notice you have the ability to use your creativity to change the world. -Tony Ruiz
23. You have a play list with “Eye Of The Tiger”, “We Are The Champions”, “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Dream On” and you listen to it every day. On repeat. -George Gumbs
24. You listen to the one voice within that says “can” in spite of the thousands without that say “can’t.” -George Gumbs
25. You have a fire in your belly that keeps you from sleeping and everything you see, you find an application for or way to enhance. You have no choice but to build, create, connect. It is like breathing. -Jennifer Sertl
26. The going gets tough, you’re thankful because you know that the more you struggle, the more people you can help with your wisdom. -Amber Rose Gallagher
27. You know you’re an entrepreneur when confronting the unknown is no longer a fear, but instead it’s a RUSH! -Leah Fritz
28. You have the nerve to confront the issue alone, no hesitancy to ask for guidance, and the audacity to jump when you don’t know where you will land. You know your successful when you do those same things in a disciplined way, you make bank, and you teach others — and you wake up with a smile every day. -Gilbert Melott
29. You climb up the ladder, you reach the top, and it’s still not enough! -Andrea Moran-Swiderski
30. You are never bored. -Nick Tart
31. The words “give-up” are and never were in your vocabulary. -Debbie Romick-Schultz
32. You are in the shower, you think of new ways things can be done, that have never been done before. -Carolyn Collins
33. You are truly passionate about building and creating something big. You love to strategically analyze. You’re open-minded and confident. You’re patient and creative. You’re a futurist and dreamer, but not a day dreamer. Lastly, you realize that “procrastination is the thief of fortune!” -Adam Toren
34. Passionately deciding that your life’s work becomes your life and not just work. -Eddie Soto
35. You get tired of making other people money and not being happy. Then the light bulb goes off and you say YES this is my passion; this is what I wake up for every morning and this is what I need to do because I can’t think of anything else besides it! -Italianwinelovr Sabatini
36. The chips are down and you still turn down four “great jobs” with “great pay” within twelve months, in the middle of a recession. -Shawn Vierra
37. You’ve put it all on the line and lost…But you’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Risk, it’s what separates the entrepreneurs from the people who work for entrepreneurs. -William Clements
38. You encounter a wall, you figures a way over it, around it or through it to get to your goal. -Edward Buy
39. You don’t get up till 9 but you’re up past 3 working. -@gizmodesign
40. You commonly find yourself saying “screw it, I’ll figure it out” -Patrick Ambron
41. You are happy about working 7 days a week, 3 phones, 4 email addresses and you still rarely talk to your Mom. -@blissconnection
42. You lose your condo $420K…lose your marriage $500k…sole business owner $PRICELESS! -@Baqanal
43. You go and spend a day with your kids with NO guilt. Then work that night late. -Lisa Lomas
44. You are driving down the street and all you can think about is the next idea for your startup, from stop signs to potholes. -Mouyyad Abdulhadi
45. You get a creative idea that keeps you up for 3 days, and normal people don’t do that. -Jennifer Iannolo
46. You spend your money on reinvesting into a business instead of a digital camera, so everyone has only seen pictures of you posted on Facebook from 5 years ago when you were a bartender, but at the end of the day that’s when you looked good anyways. -Aaron Reule
47. You see tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow. You see the path to get there and won’t stop until you do. There’s a profit involved, systems to create, and a sense of greater good. -Charles Seymour Jr
48. You assume full responsibility for your successes, failures, gains or losses. -Taghreed Yousif
49. You are beneath the bottom and you know starting TODAY you’ll make sure that “it” NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN…to you, your family, your friends, your team etc. because letting my family and I put our lives in someone else’s hands isn’t how I go to bed at night. -Avian Morales
50. You are tired of working for other people and decide that you want to build a business where you get paid by how much your worth instead of someone else deciding how much your worth. -Bryan Scolaro
How can you tell that you’re an entrepreneur?
Photo cred: GrahamKing
