It’s 2024 – How Can You Become The Entrepreneur Of Your Life
My name is Hod Fleishman. I am an entrepreneur, innovator, and creator. Over the years, I have built various businesses and collaborated with C-Suite executives and entrepreneurs to develop and implement technology products. In this series of posts, I aim to share my experience and insights on the art of entrepreneurship.
What’s Next For You?
You may be a 16-year-old battling puberty or a 60-year-old looking for a new career opportunity. Whatever your path, at some point, you will reach a junction with a big sign hanging over it, where it says in bold and capital letters: “What’s next?”
Maybe you are already there. And this should not come as a surprise. As life expectancy improves, we work more years and are exposed to more change. In parallel, the pace of change is also increasing. One critical outcome is the creation and destruction of jobs. The result is that “The average American worker has 12 jobs throughout a lifetime.”
2024 Goal, Plan, Action. Can you become the entrepreneur of your life?
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Ah, the dreaded “what’s next” question. Whatever worked up to this point has run out of steam, and it’s not interesting, possible, or relevant to serve as a platform to carry you forward. You may have lost interest, or the environment around you is less accepting than it used to be. It could be that something within you changed or something external, but here you are. It’s up to you to chart a new course for your life.
Baby Steps Or A New Start?
What should you do? How do you find the next big thing to make you leap out of bed in the morning, full of excitement, energy, and a positive attitude? Should you do more of this and less of that (evolution…), or is it time for something new (revolution…)? How do you align who you are and what you do, and where should you do those things?
As always, there are many ways in which you can solve this challenge. I suggest you take inspiration from how Entrepreneurs solve problems.
Let’s Make You The Entrepreneur Of Your Life.
When there is a need for change, one of two options exists. We can “reform” whatever needs fixing or develop something completely new.
Reform means we will identify the few cogs that don’t spin correctly and adjust them while keeping the clock running. We won’t fix any cogs but focus on a few broken teeth in a single cog. We will take a step-by-step approach and make any needed adjustments. It’s a valid approach that wants to keep things manageable, and the focus is mostly on making sure things keep going in the same general direction, with a few small but impactful changes.
Sometimes a fixed cog or a new watch will not do. We need a new type of watch.
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The other option is to disrupt things. Forget small and incremental changes. The pain is too great for minor changes to make a difference. Time is pressing, and life is too short for long reformed processes. What is needed are not cogs with sharper teeth but something different. Say, a digital watch instead of a mechanical watch. Or a switch from a watch to a smart wearable device that is 10% watch and 90% smartphone.
Is it reform or disruption you seek? Let’s take an inspiration from Entrepreneurs way of thinking.
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In short, one approach says evolution, and the other screams revolution. One seeks to find a solution within the system, the other to create a new system. One says to keep your job title but in a different company; the other says it is time to change your profession.
Entrepreneurs, as you know, are not reformers; they are revolutionaries. They see the same facts and figures everyone else sees, are aware of the same technology developments as any other interested person, and share the same pains and frictions others in their industry feel. But where others see a dull report, they see a fairy tale. That’s where entrepreneurship and innovation go hand in hand. They are not looking to fix a broken watch; they want to find a new way to improve your time; instead of reading time, they want to help you make each minute matter more.
If I were to ask you to name a few entrepreneurs, you would probably come up with the usual suspects, all from the tech world. Jobs, Zuckerberg, Musk… However, entrepreneurship is not limited to technology or business. There are social entrepreneurs, corporate intrapreneurs, and political entrepreneurs. The commonality is not technology or business but the capability to break free from the usual course of things (evolution) and to identify a better, shorter, faster way to a preferable future (revolution).
Entrepreneurship is an approach to problem-solving. And you can be the entrepreneur of your own life. It is in your hands to decide what you want to do next. Is it an incremental change, a continuous line of what you’ve been doing, or is it time for a complete overhaul and a new (even surprising!) direction?
If it is change you are seeking, there are three things you must be able to spell out. My experience as an entrepreneur and working with other entrepreneurs has taught me the importance of these three pillars. I think many entrepreneurs naturally have a grasp of these three points, and you can learn how to utilize them in your journey as well:
- You have to be able to describe with precision who you are. Not your job title, age, or marital status. Who are you on the inside? What are your unique superpowers? What drives you?
- It would be best if you defined what it is you want. What is the thing you desire that will power your motivation through a long and arduous journey? A journey of change.
- Many different paths or platforms can carry you from an unsatisfying present to a fulfilling future. Which is the right platform for you? If you know who you are and what you want, it’s time to identify and prioritize the best platform for you.
Big items. Not all are easy to grasp and make actionable, but the start of 2024 may be the best time to do a bit of soul-searching and come up with an answer.
I already took 3 minutes and 23 seconds of your day, so let’s pause, and I will detail point (1) next week. How can you tell who you are?
