“Entrepreneurship” – it’s one of those terms that a lot of people use but I don’t really think they know what it means. It’s easily defined by way of the internet:

But what is it really. The definition changes greatly when you put the word “spirit” with it.

Funny Story

I was with my fourteen-year-old daughter as she was signing up for high school classes (my how time flies). It was a simple process of sitting with an advisor that was somehow willing to give her Saturday up to help people pick the right class. My eyes darted down the list to see what was on it. Mixed with “domestic arts” (not even kidding) “dance” and “PE” was entrepreneurship. It was like I had found Waldo. I said to my daughter, “LOOK! Entrepreneurship! Take that one! Take that one!” Getting the “will you please not embarrass me look” from my daughter she calmly said… “What’s that?” Ok… this was my big chance to finally teach my daughter what I do. But for some reason my mind was blank. I didn’t know where to start. I knew that a 10 minute explanation was going to get me kicked out of the gym-a-caf-a-rium. I only had a split second to narrow down my almost 40 years of experience so I said, “well… it’s what I do” THAT’S IT?!? That’s all I had. Of all the hours of teaching what it means to be prepared and armed with a targeted to the point elevator pitch all I came up with was, “it’s what I do”. Then I just looked at her as if to will all of my knowledge into her so she could have a life blessed with entrepreneurial success and failures. To which she replied, “oh and what is it you do dad?” Now the advisor was waiting for my answer too and I said, “Well, I can’t explain it all right here… way too much to tell… it about starting a business.” Again short and to the point my daughter said, “I don’t really want to start a business”. And that was the end of that. My moment was lost and in some kind of veil consolation I looked at the advisor and asked if she knew who taught the class, thinking that I could come in and… you know… help teach. After all I was a University level teacher in the arts of entrepreneurship.

Oh Yea?

As I left the school, something came back to me that had been bothering me teaching this semester. Do people really know what entrepreneurship is? Hopefully the awkward story with my daughter proves that it’s not an easy thing to “bottom line” entrepreneurship. The definition above is easy enough to explain, but why do some people have that “it” factor and other struggle and just don’t get “it”. How do you teach “it” anyway? Based on the time with my daughter I don’t even know really what “it” is. I thought a lot about this and came up with the entrepreneurial spirit. The spirit is an attitude that separates the willing from the want-to-be(s) and the risk taker from the conservative. The spirit gets someone up early and doesn’t let their mind rest as they lay down at night. The entrepreneurial spirit is the fire that burns when all you have had for the last month is rejection. It’s fuel that allows you to push ahead but also give you opportunity to change when success isn’t on your current path. It is the best part of the job!

About The Author:

Christopher Elmore has written 8 books, countless articles, lectures at UNC – Charlotte and Queen’s University  and travels around the country speaking on the topics of startup success, sales, presentation skills, change, entrepreneurship, accounts payable and payment automation. Having deep startup and entrepreneurial experience, Christopher was one of the six people who started AvidXchange in 2000 and continues to work in the business today. If you hire Christopher to speak or teach at your company or event… you won’t be sorry! Request a media kit or contact us for more information