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"The most successful people I know didn’t do it with entrepreneurship, but rather they got good-paying jobs, kept expenses low, and invested whatever was left i

"The most successful people I know didn’t do it with entrepreneurship, but rather they got good-paying jobs, kept expenses low, and invested whatever was left in the stock market or real estate, taking advantage of compounding" Yea, this guy doesn't get what it means to be an entrepreneur. It is not just about the money. It is an itch that has to be scratched. It is an addiction. Only real entrepreneurs feel that itch. The rest are wantrapreneurs. Entrepreneurs create something of value. They create a product/service that solves problems. The problems can be big/small but a business cannot exist if it doesn't solve a problem. They love creating teams and putting a bunch of people together to achieve something. Big or small. Unicorn or bootstrapped. Doesn't matter. What matters is that they created something that will exist for some time and leave a legacy (hopefully). Entrepreneurship has nothing to do with just making money or compounding or playing it safer. It is in fact complete opposite. Getting rich as an entrepreneur is literally a side effect. Yes, that is one way to get rich as well but if you just want to be rich with minimal risks, there definitely are better ways. So yes, it is overrated for those who really don't have the itch. Like I said, you can make good money doing many different things and probably with better probability. But that is not what entrepreneurship is all about. Not even close.

sdinsn 8y ago
> Yea, this guy doesn't get what it means to be an entrepreneur. It is not just about the money. It is an itch that has to be scratched. It is an addiction. Only real entrepreneurs feel that itch. The rest are wantrapreneurs. Nice gatekeeping. There are plenty of entrepreneurs who are doing it for purely the money.
- codegeek 8y ago
  I know. That is why I said not just about money.
  - sdinsn 8y ago
    > Only real entrepreneurs feel that itch. The rest are wantrapreneurs. Implies that people that do it for only money are 'fake'. This is the gatekeeping part
    - JohnFen 8y ago
      Yeah, there is a taste of the No True Scotsman fallacy there, certainly. That said, I've known and worked with a shedload on entrepreneurs over the decades, and I honestly can't remember a single one that was doing it purely for the money. In my experience, people who are driven purely by money avoid starting businesses. They tend to invest in startups or get great-paying jobs in established businesses. I think the reason is that starting a business is a high-risk activity that will consume pretty much all of your time and energy. You need to be driven by something more than just money in order to be willing to do that. If you're just about money, there are much easier and lower-risk ways of going about doing that.

sdinsn 8y ago

> Yea, this guy doesn't get what it means to be an entrepreneur. It is not just about the money. It is an itch that has to be scratched. It is an addiction. Only real entrepreneurs feel that itch. The rest are wantrapreneurs. Nice gatekeeping. There are plenty of entrepreneurs who are doing it for purely the money.

codegeek 8y ago
I know. That is why I said not just about money.
- sdinsn 8y ago
  > Only real entrepreneurs feel that itch. The rest are wantrapreneurs. Implies that people that do it for only money are 'fake'. This is the gatekeeping part
  - JohnFen 8y ago
    Yeah, there is a taste of the No True Scotsman fallacy there, certainly. That said, I've known and worked with a shedload on entrepreneurs over the decades, and I honestly can't remember a single one that was doing it purely for the money. In my experience, people who are driven purely by money avoid starting businesses. They tend to invest in startups or get great-paying jobs in established businesses. I think the reason is that starting a business is a high-risk activity that will consume pretty much all of your time and energy. You need to be driven by something more than just money in order to be willing to do that. If you're just about money, there are much easier and lower-risk ways of going about doing that.