There is something about this that irks me.
I'm sure that once a person has secured their twinkling place in the startup firmament, it is gratifying to look down on the all the posers/wantrepreneurs/nontrepreneurs as lesser beings...
Not everyone moves at the same pace. Some people take awhile to get the courage. Some people can't run home to mom and dad if their finances turned to custard when their startup flames out. (There is a lot of risk taking freedom when someone knows that in the worst case failure they'll just ask dad for 5 grand and start over).
Yes there are entrepreneurs and there are unproven entrepreneurs...so what?
This has been my biggest complaint. Some people around here fly without a parachute and when failure strikes its done. Its a worrisome feeling knowing you are out and alone with no backup.
That said people without parachutes tend to fly safer, and fly with more determination.
Ironically... you just gave me an idea. Why not keep an untouchable $5k emergency fund (if you have to keep with somebody you trust to make sure you don't spend it, do so). Then, if you fail and hit rock bottom, you know you can get back on your feet.
I think even true entrepreneurs go through nontrepreneurial phases.
I know someone who started and sold a company many years ago. In the past two years, he has started three "projects" all with the intention that they might become real companies. He met with failure on all three -- one for personal reasons, one for technical reasons, and one for business reasons.
To those who don't know his history -- but who do experience his regular and excited descriptions of the ideas he's "working on" -- he might seem exactly like a nontrepreneur.
Would you consider him a nontrepreneur or an entrepreneur? If we're going to go coining things like "nontrepreneur" what is then the difference between a nontrepreneur and an entrepreneur?
Is it actually filing for incorporation? If so, then what about all the people who are working on ideas but haven't incorporated yet?
I think you're echoing more directly what I intended to say. I didn't coin the term "nontrepreneur" and I doubt it's a terribly useful term. The person I mentioned is certainly an entrepreneur.
Whatever happened to the word "poser?" Is that too nineties? Maybe "poseur" is more classic. But "fake it 'till you make it" is still a pretty good description of learning in many domains.
For me there's always a ramp up phase before anything new that I do in life. Usually I've got several Next Big Things that I've been dabbling in and then some critical crossroads will approach where I have to pull the trigger and run with one of them.
This means that there are a lot of things that never make the cut: painting, DJing, learning French, etc. I've taken first steps in them and have paint brushes, turntables and French books, but never pulled the trigger to take them seriously. Other things won.
As long as I'm getting stuff done in my life this is fine, and those options are still there should I choose to go back to them at some point.
What seems a little more dangerous is picking one thing and lingering on the cusp of it indefinitely. I think some people do that as kind of a romantic escapism: one of my best friends always talks about being a bike courier. She doesn't really want to be a bike courier; it's just romantic contrast with her job behind a desk.
Do you know the guy who always talk about his big ideas but never got around doing it? Or the guy spreads entrepreneurship religiously and read whole lot of business book but never started a real business? Or the guy who always ask you to quit your job and start your own business but never do it himself?
Wow, this pretty much describes a lot of people I meet at uni entrepreneurship clubs.
Right now at this point in my life I am a Nontrepreneur. No doubt about it.
My excuse is mostly a time thing, school and work generally take up 90% of my time. Every time I start something I really should be working on a lab or studying for a test.
There's a motto I like to selectively abide by: Less think, more do. There's a point where making a leap of faith and doing something about your idea's makes sense. Some people never make that leap and perpetually get stuck in idea mode.
Idea mode is a good place to be at the beginning, and you might stick around in it for a while for good reasons. Eventually though, you need to transition into "doing" mode and build your idea, brining it to fruition. That's a big leap of faith for most, and it's why lots of people like to talk about starting a business, but very few do.
