For many, a creative entrepreneur is a professional in the creative arts–visual artist, musician, floral designer, etc. but creativity is essential to all entrepreneurs. We need to think out of the box, envision, design, incubate and manifest whether we are a graphic artist or an engineer. Yes, there are the left-brain and right brain thinkers, but creativity is needed to innovate and bring new ideas to fruition.
What Separates The Entrepreneur From The Business Owner
Even for the traditionally left-brain dominant engineer who is logical, rational, and detail-oriented there is a need to incorporate the right hemisphere which is intuitive, holistic, and the big picture thinker. Business is a lot about mechanics, but what separates the entrepreneur from the business owner is the desire to bring about something new and innovative and the long-term passion to make it happen in a sustainable way. This is what we refer to as the Entrepreneurial Spirit–the indelible need to dream, design and create!
As an entrepreneur we are not just a worker-bee that decided to start our own business, but a creator, a solution provider, a rainmaker. We didn’t just turn in our job for a contract without benefits. Like the engineer described above, we have moved beyond mechanics into creation. Yes, a good engineer and a good business person needs to know the mechanics. I’d hate to drive across a bridge that was designed by an engineer that knew nothing the physics of structural engineering, but a business owner that has no drive to birth a new entity, idea, or solution will never make a good entrepreneur. Because it is all about the creative process.
Without vision or purpose as your driver, there is no need for business operations as there is nothing to implement. Although entrepreneurs know that their vision will never come to light without good business mechanics, it is the mix of these two elements that makes us successful, the balance of both the left and right brain, the masculine and feminine that makes a good entrepreneur.
If you find yourself lost in the day-to-day of running your business, remember not to lose sight of your vision and purpose and never stop tapping into the universal creative pool within; otherwise the day-to-day is for naught.
What is your vision?