| It's
an interesting question. My theory is that entrepreneurship is both
an activity and attitude but also a bit like being a pop star. You're
one while your doing it, but once you stop producing the hits, you're
an ex-pop star has-been. So starting your own hairdressing business
makes you an entrepreneur. But if that's all you do, then you're
no longer one, you're either a successful or unsuccessful business
person. You're only a successful entrepreneur when you're constantly
looking for new opportunities. It's a continuous process.
I would
say that some of the superstar business people who started their
own business, made a fortune and are still running that business
are no longer entrepreneurs.
Another question is 'can you teach entrepreneurship?' which to a
certain degree you must be able to do since I do it. Or at least
I get paid to do it.
I've just
come back from the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference
in Cambridge where I launched a new business creating games to teach
enterprise and entrepreneurship. Our game is called 'Ultrapreneur
- the Real Life Money Game', and you can read about it here.
This idea came about when a colleague and I were tasked with designing
a course to teach entrepreneurship to large groups of students.
By creating the game, what we did was not just run a lecture but
we allowed the students to experience risk taking, making value
based offerings and networking with each other.
So perhaps
I don't teach entrepreneurship at all. Using tools like the Ultrapreneur
game we allowed the students to experience and understand the mindset
of an entrepreneur themselves. The game showed them the path and
some of them will chose to walk that path. Perhaps running a business
is a game too. Perhaps if we treated it as a game we'd be a lot
better at it.
If you
deliver enterprise training to large groups you might be interested
in the game. As a reader of ding! you'll be able to take advantage
of the promotional offer by using your email address and the promotional
code. Click here to
read about it.
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