Before you decide to start your own business, you have to ask yourself one key question. It’s a simple one, but it’ll take some serious consideration and contemplation: are you an entrepreneur, or a freelancer?
In other words, do you have a passion for business, or do you just want to make a living doing what you love? There’s nothing wrong with either choice. Real business people, they love business like great chefs love cooking, like great artists love painting or sculpting, like great authors love writing. That’s their art, their craft. For the rest of us, business is just something we have to do to get paid.
So which side of the line do you fall on? Here’s the one important question that should help you figure it out…
Could You Have Fun Selling Toilet Paper?
If you build a factory to make and sell toilet paper, that’s a pretty solid business: everyone needs toilet paper. It’s not the most exciting product, though, is it? Well, the most successful businesses often sell the most boring products. Just consider that Microsoft actually loses money on every Xbox sold. They have to make that cash back on licensing fees and so on. Fun products, exciting products aren’t a business person’s main priority. An entrepreneur sees something with market potential or not, and doesn’t give much thought to whether or not it’s an exciting or fun product or service.
If you just want to make a living doing what excites you, what you think is fun, you’re a freelancer. If what excites you is finding new ways to sell toilet paper, you’re an entrepreneur.
Sometimes, an entrepreneur gets to sell a fun or exciting product. Sometimes, a freelancer gets a kick out of the business aspect of their work. By and large, though, an entrepreneur’s main goal is business and a freelancer’s main goal is making money doing what they love. Pick a side and you at least won’t have to experience a conflict of interest ever again.