According to AppSumo, a Wantrepreneur is:
  1. Someone who “is gonna” start a business.
  2. Someone who “will find the right idea some day.”
  3. Someone who wants to “act” like an entrepreneur.
  4. Someone who “thinks about starting a business” all the time, yet doesn’t get around to it.
While it may seem like everyone is calling themselves an entrepreneur these days, the truth of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs who think they have the billion-dollar idea, but they somehow never manage to put it into action. They don’t actually go on to plant the seed of and grow a successful business.
So, what are the real differences between being an entrepreneur and a Wantrepreneur?
Passion
Passion for what you do is all but required in everything you may attempt in your professional career. Many in business put forth advice that you have to be passionate about the business you’re in, but they don’t mention the necessity of having passion about business as a whole. While this may seem like a grammatical or semantic shift, the difference in how you play the “game” in business could mean the difference between success and failure. To grow a business idea from a seed of a thought into a full fledged money-making passion, you’ll need to convince investors, customers, partners, and employees to believe in your vision. If you’re not 100% convinced and passionate about what you’re doing, that lack will translate to the rest of the team, and your business will ultimately suffer.
All real entrepreneurs are driven by their passion and love for business, while Wantrepreneurs are driven by the idea of being an entrepreneur. There’s a big difference between wanting something, and actually making it happen.
Action
When it boils down to it, taking action plays as much of a role in the success of your business and your personal success as an entrepreneur as passion does. Entrepreneurs take the leap of faith even when their website, product, or prototype is not complete. If you think you aren’t ready, you’re going to have to learn the hard way – by immersing yourself in the business and becoming comfortable with taking risks and their subsequent necessary actions. Don’t let yourself become paralyzed by information – take action. There’s a reason why they say, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today” Real entrepreneurs do what they say they’re going to do. Wantrepreneurs talk about it – but never really get started. Nothing can happen if you don’t take action.
Discipline
To a wantrepreneur, there’s an inherent idealistic idea of what it means to be an entrepreneur. While it may seem like the quickest way to get rich, or the best way to be your own boss, what wantrepreneurs don’t realize is that these come along with a great necessity for self-discipline. Setting your own hours only means you’ll be pouring in more in the beginning, because you’ll be overflowing with ideas, tasks, and projects that need to get done.
The roller coaster of emotions that comes along with starting, growing, and eventually exiting your own business is not something the average Joe can always handle. There will be moments of complete despair and frustration when you catch yourself wondering if you made the right choice. When this happens, it’s also up to you to discipline yourself to not feed your fear, and instead feed your focus. Disciplining your mind in this way is key to entrepreneurial success, because as I’ve outlined, it can test your limits. The bottom line is - a Wantrepreneur is on the sidelines watching the action, while an entrepreneur leaps into the game and stays focused on where they’re going.