|
I’ve always hated the term freelancer, because to me it connotes someone who does a succession of tasks rather than operating with business purpose. But maybe you use it to describe yourself, and that’s OK. I often use the word solopreneur, which Lawrence Fox, owner of Toronto-based The Wizard Group, told me he thinks of as “a cutesy neologism,” adding that he didn’t see the need to tell people that he’d started as a business of one.
This column is all about how we see ourselves and the shifting terminologies that we use to define ourselves and our businesses and the way we want our clients, customers and prospects to think of us. My opinion is that the language we use is linked to both our own perception of a term and what we think will resonate with the person across the table. So I tend to talk about myself as a small business owner but think of myself as a solopreneur at heart:
- Business owner = business savvy, results-focused, a business person
- Solopreneur = innovative, identifies and seizes opportunities, risk-taking, independent
That’s me—now what about you? To frame that discussion, I posed a question across my LinkedIn network and to a handful of additional business colleagues: Do you consider yourself a solopreneur, an entrepreneur or a small business owner?
Perception matters
Several people told me that the perception of each term matters. “There seems to be a perception that is associated with each term, and it differs depending on who’s doing the talking and who’s doing the listening,” said Marc Meyer, founder of Digital Response Marketing Group in Naples, Florida. His words were echoed by Linda Faust, a virtual assistant and owner of Linda’s Administrative Support Services in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, who told me, “Although all three could be used to describe a small business owner or consultant, I think the responses are going to depend on each person’s perception of the terms.” She added that, for her, solopreneur is the best fit.
Heather Jacobson, marketing and brand manager at Kissito Healthcare, made a similar point, “A small business owner…could be a solopreneur, or an entrepreneur, but he/she doesn’t have to be.” Which brings me to another important theme.
Who owns your business?
Or, more accurately, do you take ownership of your business and its success? Several people suggested that taking ownership represents a significant difference between those small business owners who are entrepreneurs and those who are not.
Kendra Von Achen, president of DB Pros in Denville, New Jersey, said that she considers herself both a small business owner and an entrepreneur. She added, “One distinguishing factor is that a small business owner may or may not work in and on the business, but an entrepreneur takes ownership in the business and its success, and is always thinking of new ideas for that business or new ones to create.” Kate Perrin, CEO of PRofessional Solutions in Washington, D.C., also said that she considers herself “both an entrepreneur, since I created a new business, and a small business owner, because I employ others.”
Similarly, Lawrence Lau, a technology evaluator and investment scout from New Zealand who’s now based in Shanghai, cited control over your career and destiny (along with your risk tolerance) as a key factor in determining whether someone is entrepreneurial. He noted that while CEOs can be entrepreneurial, “they may be tied down by shareholders. An artist may be a solopreneur but be under the thumb of a patron who buys the works.”
The business continuum
Finally, several people talked about what I see as a continuum from small business to entrepreneurial mind-set. Harp Arora, founder and principal of Sedona Communications in Waterloo, Ontario, told me that she considers herself an entrepreneur. “Small business sounds—well—small, limiting, and full of struggle,” she said. “Entrepreneurship is about vision and ideas, dreaming big, taking chances, and making it happen using every resource available. It’s about attitude.”
Gloria Bell, president of Red Stapler Consulting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also said she’s an entrepreneur. “I did not just start a business, I started a life,” she said. “I left a stable, well-paying career to take a risk on myself and my idea.”
A.J. Leon, co-founder of the LaC Project in New York City, also walked away from a high-paying job. Leon says that “by title, I am a small business owner…. However, an entrepreneur is just what I am.” Leon adds that being an entrepreneur is “a state of spirit. It’s in you or it’s not.”
And remember Fox, who prefers the terms small business owner and entrepreneur to solopreneur? He also identifies risk-taking as important. He told me he knew he was eventually going to work for himself—and finally took the leap. “I said, if I don’t do this when I’m 36, I won’t do it when I’m 63.” So he did—and he hasn’t looked back.
Lau, who talked about taking ownership, also identified entrepreneurship with innovation—innovating what (new products) innovating how (new processes) and innovating who (new markets). He characterized entrepreneurs as people who “can see one or more of the above and are prepared to take a chance to act on it.”
So what’s in your name?
Melissa Leon, who calls herself the co-preneur (with husband A.J.) of the LaC Project, talked about the difference between being a consultant and a business owner. “I do believe there is a difference,” she said. “When my husband quit his job as a corporate controller he immediately became a consultant just so we could pay rent. Then we started our own business to work with people on things that we are passionate about.”
Melissa Leon’s comments speak to another reason why you really need to recognize the implication of the term you choose to use: It can affect your ability to stand out from the crowd. Meyer told me, “Given the current state of the economy, I imagine a lot of people may have started their own gig because they couldn’t find another. So perception versus reality will play a big part in how they want to be perceived by their clients-to-be.”
It may not matter to me what title you use, but it may matter a great deal to someone else. And that’s the point: You need to select your terminology with deliberation, recognize that perceptions differ, and be comfortable with your place in the business continuum.
Daria Steigman advises clients on business and communication strategy. She also blogs about business, entrepreneurship and social media on her Independent Thinking Blog. She can be reached at +1 202.244.7651,
or via Twitter:@dariasteigman. |
|
