My Summer Lair Chapter #156: Why Are You An Entrepreneur?
The description on the back of The Soul of an Entrepreneur: Work and Life Beyond the Startup Myth says: “This book is the real story of entrepreneurship. It confronts both success and failure, and shows how they can change a human life. It captures the inherent freedom that entrepreneurship brings, and why it matters.”
David Sax’s gift as a writer is the ability to identify and reveal the undercurrents flowing through our culture. The Soul of an Entrepreneur is a compelling follow up to his excellent and thought-provoking book The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter. In a sense, he is a writer who operates like a magician with a ta-da! though in his case he isn’t pulling a rabbit of his hat…he is revealing the unrecognized hustle that fuels the engine of our economy.
It’s odd however events like this Coronavirus pandemic are useful for teaching us to live with uncertainty. This entire response to the virus hasn’t been linear or smooth, you cycle through a variety of emotions: some people are doing well; some people are not doing well…this is what business and entrepreneurship are like.
I find one of the more fascinating conversations once everybody was put under house arrest was this debate on productivity. I think for the first time in a long time people had to figure out what that actually means. And I understand employees are juggling work demands while teaching their kids school but we took productivity for granted. Just as we failed to personalize success or question what entrepreneurship truly means or looks like.
Cue David Sax and his book The Soul of an Entrepreneur. Is it a good time to start a business? Yes if only because it is today. Entrepreneurship is a wonderful thrilling adventure…why wouldn’t you want to get started today?
