Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

A real entrepreneur will never quit. Quit on a business model, sure. Quit on an idea, maybe. Quit on an industry, possibly. But flat out quit, never!

I’m sharing this after reading a motivational email from an entrepreneur friend. His email shared some very encouraging words about survival as a bootstrapping entrepreneur.  In short, my takeaway from the email was that quitting from the perspective of a real entrepreneur is basically taking a job working in a cubicle for the man. 

If you are a real entrepreneur, this is not an option.  If you are a real entrepreneur, you would rather walk through the desert than get pimped by the corporate version of Iceberg Slim.

If you are a real entrepreneur, you are essentially unemployable. When shit hits the fan, it’s not a matter of quitting, it’s a matter of survival.

What defines a great entrepreneur?

This is a very subjective question.  Thus, I’m answering it from the perspective of what I aspire to one day represent as a great entrepreneur.  With that said, here are the top 5 qualities I think a great entrepreneur must have:

1. Problem solver

2. The ability to build a team that compliments their strengths and weaknesses

3. The ability to turn bad decisions into positive outcomes

4. Energetic and inspiring communicator

5. Confident and Courageous in the face of adversity

What qualities would you put in your top five?

You can find exact dictionary definitions of discipline here, here, and here.

In these definitions you find words like obey, punishment, and  rules. They describe discipline as an act of willpower, as training, and as a pattern of behavior.

In short, these dictionary definitions of discipline make the idea of discipline sound constrained, painful, and anti-creative.

This ideal of discipline is in direct conflict with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Entrepreneurs Need Creativity and Freedom

Entrepreneurship involves creativity, freedom, and the ability to spread your wings without constraints. Applying discipline in the manner described in the traditional sense is in complete conflict with the reasons why most people become entrepreneurs.

Yet, discipline is critically needed to achieve the creativity we crave as entrepreneurs.

So how do you reconcile this conflict?

You reconcile this conflict by applying creativity to the product and discipline to the process.

Good entrepreneurs are born with the ability to come up with creative products to solve problems. You can’t be a good entrepreneur unless you have the ability to come up with creative ideas or the ability to create the physical representation of an idea .  Unfortunately, as it turns out in the classic Jim Collins book Good to Great, this creativity is not the difference maker when it comes to going from good to great.

The real difference maker in great entrepreneurial ventures is the ability to discover a disciplined process to market, serve, and bill customers. A process that is repeatable, predictable and that creates profits.

However, I don’t think you can have one without the other.  As a result, being able to thread the needle between creativity and discipline is the ultimate competitive advantage. What do you think?