Stay hungry, stay foolish: Watson’s Newspaper, and my entrepreneurial journey

The dictionary defines an ‘entrepreneur’ as: ‘a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so’ (Oxford American Dictionaries).

It’s interesting to note the connection with risk.

As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve never really considered myself a ‘risk-taker’. Rather, I would say that my strong belief and passion for the causes I have taken on in my life means that I simply cannot conceive of NOT moving forward with entrepreneurial activity. It is the drive to create the change, in despite of, not because of, the risks involved that inspires entrepreneurship. I would even go so far as to say I hate taking risks! I certainly don’t like failure any more than the next person. But I guess it also comes down to what you consider the risk to be.

For me, the risk of not stretching myself, not making a contribution, not trying to do something, was a far greater risk than the loss of money or a life of security which, it seemed, is the ‘risk’ one must take when becoming an entrepreneur. It’s not such a practical decision to become an entrepreneur and, indeed, if you even have to weigh up the pros and cons of starting your own business, I suspect you are not really a natural entrepreneur……