Is Entrepreneur The Current "Dirty" Word?

When Did Everyone Become An Entrepreneur?

Is it just me, or is everyone an entrepreneur these days?

You can't scroll through social media, attend a networking event or have a conversation about someone's career without discovering that they're an entrepreneur. They're building a brand. Developing a concept. Working on something exciting. Exploring opportunities. Disrupting an industry.

Sometimes they're running genuinely successful businesses.

Other times, they're working part-time at the local café, watching motivational videos and thinking about starting an online store.

Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with working in a café. There's nothing wrong with having a business idea either. Some of the world's most successful businesses started with someone working an ordinary job while dreaming about something bigger.

But surely there's a difference between wanting to start a business and actually running one? Apparently, having a laptop, a Canva subscription and a business idea is now enough to qualify as an entrepreneur.

Who knew?

Somewhere along the way, entrepreneurship seems to have become less about building a business and more about creating an identity.

And I'm starting to wonder whether we've made the word so fashionable that it's losing its meaning altogether.

When Did Business Owner Stop Being Good Enough?

Twenty years ago, people were generally quite happy to describe themselves as business owners.
They owned a plumbing business.
They ran a café.
They manufactured something.
They operated a small accounting practice.

They might have employed two people or two hundred. Nobody seemed particularly concerned about whether they qualified as an entrepreneur. They were too busy running their businesses.

Today, the term business owner almost sounds a little ordinary. Entrepreneur, on the other hand, sounds exciting.

It suggests innovation, wealth, independence and ambition. It conjures images of successful people making important decisions from expensive offices or running businesses from laptops beside swimming pools. But is there really anything wrong with simply owning a business?

Why does someone running a successful manufacturing company sound less impressive than someone who describes themselves as a digital entrepreneur?

Perhaps we've become more interested in the title than the achievement. And that's a strange direction to be heading.

Social Media Entrepreneurs: What Exactly Are We Selling Young People?

This is where I think the whole entrepreneurial culture becomes a little concerning. Social media is absolutely overflowing with people telling us how wonderful entrepreneurship is.

They're working from Bali.
They're driving expensive cars.
They're travelling whenever they want.
They're making money while they sleep.
And they're telling young people that they can have exactly the same lifestyle if they just follow the right formula.

Some of these people are undoubtedly legitimate business owners with valuable experience to share.

Others seem to have built their entire business around telling people how to build a business. Which raises an interesting question.

If your primary income comes from selling courses about becoming an entrepreneur, are you teaching entrepreneurship or simply selling the dream of it? At the extreme end, are you a snake oil salesman who's robbing people??

The message being delivered to young people is particularly troubling. Working for someone else is presented as a failure of ambition. A traditional career is something to escape.

The nine-to-five is a trap.

Financial freedom is supposedly just one clever business idea away.

And if you aren't building your own empire, apparently you're wasting your potential. What an extraordinary amount of pressure to place on someone who is just starting their working life.

Instead of encouraging young Australians to develop skills, gain experience, understand industries and discover what they're actually good at, we're encouraging them to chase financial independence before they've even learnt how a business operates.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging ambition. But surely ambition should be accompanied by a realistic understanding of what achieving it involves?

Are we inspiring young people to build businesses, or teaching them to be dissatisfied with perfectly good careers before they've even started?

Passive Income: The Greatest Marketing Pitch Of Modern Business?

Ah, passive income.

Possibly two of the most overused words on the internet. Who wouldn't love the idea of earning money while sleeping?

Set up an online store.
Create a digital product.
Start affiliate marketing.
Build a subscription business.
Automate everything.
Then sit back and watch the money roll in.

Sounds wonderful.

Except someone still has to create the products.

Someone has to attract customers.

Someone has to pay for advertising.

Someone has to manage the technology, handle complaints, update systems, process refunds and deal with the inevitable problems.

And if you're the business owner, that someone is probably you. Of course, passive income genuinely exists. Investments can generate returns without daily involvement, and established businesses can eventually operate with very little input from their owners.

But there's a rather significant difference between building something that eventually generates relatively passive income and creating something that requires no effort in the first place. The years of work required to reach that point rarely feature prominently in the sales pitch.

Neither does the financial risk. Or the failed attempts. Or the money spent on ideas that never went anywhere. Perhaps passive income isn't the problem.

Perhaps the problem is that we're selling the reward without explaining the work required to earn it.

The Part They Don't Show You On Instagram

Let's talk about what running a business actually looks like.

Not the attractive website.

Not the carefully styled office.

Not the motivational quotes.

The actual business.

Cash flow.
Payroll.
BAS statements.
Superannuation.
Insurance.
Workers compensation.
Fair Work obligations.
Supplier payments.
Staffing issues.
Customer complaints.
Equipment failures.
Unexpected expenses.

And the constant responsibility of making sure there's enough money in the bank to keep everything moving. Running a business in Australia involves an extraordinary amount of administration and compliance, particularly once you start employing people.

And none of it disappears because you've decided to take a day off.

One of the biggest misconceptions about business ownership is that profit automatically means cash.

It doesn't. A business can have an excellent month in sales and still struggle to pay its bills because customers haven't paid their invoices.

You can have thousands of dollars owing to you and very little money available to pay your staff.

You can win a fantastic new contract and suddenly need to find the money to purchase materials, increase staffing or expand production before you've received a cent from the customer.

These are the realities of running a business. And they're not particularly glamorous.

Sometimes you're the managing director, salesperson, bookkeeper, cleaner and customer service department, all before morning tea. That's not to say business ownership isn't rewarding. It absolutely can be.

But perhaps we should spend a little more time talking about the responsibilities and a little less time talking about the lifestyle.

Everyone Wants To Be The Boss Until It's Time To Be The Boss

One of the most appealing promises of entrepreneurship is freedom.

Be your own boss.

Choose your own hours.

Make your own decisions.

Never answer to anyone again.

Except that's not really how it works, is it?

Customers expect their orders on time. Employees need support. Suppliers have problems. Government regulations need to be followed. The bank expects repayments. And the business needs attention whether you're feeling motivated or not.

Being your own boss doesn't necessarily mean having nobody to answer to. Sometimes it means answering to everyone. And then there's the responsibility of employing people.

When you're an employee, you generally expect your wages to arrive on time.

When you're the employer, you're responsible for making sure that happens.

Even when business is slow. Even when a customer hasn't paid. Even when you've had an expensive month. And sometimes, particularly in smaller businesses, the owner is the last person to get paid.

That's a side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make particularly exciting social media content. But it's a reality worth understanding before deciding that being your own boss is the ultimate career goal.

Have We Started Confusing Ambition With Achievement?

I wonder whether we've become so enthusiastic about encouraging ambition that we've stopped distinguishing it from achievement. Having a business idea is not the same as building a business.

Registering a business name is not the same as generating revenue.

Creating a website is not the same as finding customers.

Having thousands of social media followers is not the same as making a profit.

And describing yourself as a founder doesn't automatically mean you've founded something commercially viable.

None of these things are inherently bad. Every successful business begins somewhere. But perhaps we should be a little more careful about celebrating the announcement rather than the achievement.

Social media has created an environment where people can build an impressive-looking business identity long before they've built an actual business.

They can announce a launch.
Create a logo.
Develop a personal brand.
Publish inspirational content.
And introduce themselves as a CEO.

All without necessarily selling anything.

Meanwhile, someone running a profitable local business for twenty years might have a terrible website, no social media presence and absolutely no interest in calling themselves an entrepreneur.

Which one should we be celebrating?

Why Being An Employee Isn't A Failure

This might be the part of entrepreneurial culture that bothers me most.

Somewhere along the way, being an employee seems to have become something people are encouraged to escape. We're constantly told to stop working for someone else's dream.

Build our own empire.

Take control of our financial future.

Become our own boss.

But what's actually wrong with being an employee?

A good job can provide financial stability, paid holidays, superannuation, career progression, professional development and the opportunity to do meaningful work. It can also provide something many business owners would dearly love.

The ability to finish work and actually finish work.

Not everyone wants to manage staff. Not everyone wants to chase unpaid invoices. Not everyone wants to spend Sunday afternoon worrying about whether there's enough money to cover next week's wages. And not everyone wants the responsibility of running a business.

Some people are genuinely happier working for someone else.I know every decade or so I myself think about how easy it would be to just "work for my money" instead of having to juggle the million things a business owner has to.

Some are incredibly successful employees who earn excellent incomes, develop valuable skills and enjoy rewarding careers. Others simply want a reliable job that allows them to enjoy their lives outside work. Why should any of those choices be considered less ambitious?

Perhaps we've become so focused on encouraging people to build businesses that we've forgotten something important.

Being an excellent employee is an achievement too.

And perhaps real success isn't about becoming your own boss. Perhaps it's about finding work that gives you the income, satisfaction and lifestyle you actually want.

Are We Romanticising The Struggle?

There's another strange contradiction in entrepreneurial culture. On one hand, we're told that running a business provides complete freedom. On the other, we're constantly told that successful entrepreneurs work harder than everyone else.

The hustle.
The grind.
The sixteen-hour days.
The sleepless nights.
The endless sacrifice.

Apparently, we're supposed to build businesses so we can escape working for someone else, then work twice as many hours to prove how dedicated we are. That seems like a fairly questionable trade.

Of course, starting and growing a business often requires enormous effort.

There are times when long hours are unavoidable. But should overworking really be something we celebrate? And why does every business have to grow into something enormous? Why can't someone open a café, employ four people, earn a comfortable income and be perfectly happy?

Why does every successful online store need to become a million-dollar brand?

Why must every small business owner be working towards expansion?

Perhaps we've started treating growth as the only acceptable definition of success. But sometimes a small, profitable, well-run business is exactly what the owner wants. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The Businesses That Actually Keep Australia Running

While social media celebrates digital entrepreneurs, thousands of ordinary Australian businesses quietly get on with keeping the country running.

Plumbers.
Electricians.
Manufacturers.
Mechanics.
Hairdressers.
Accountants.
Builders.
Cleaners.
Retailers.
Hospitality operators.

They employ people. Train apprentices. Pay suppliers. Support local communities. Take financial risks, and provide products and services that people genuinely need.

Many of these business owners have been operating successfully for decades. They've survived economic downturns, changing regulations, difficult customers, staffing shortages and all the other challenges that come with running a business.

And many have absolutely no interest in calling themselves entrepreneurs. They're simply business owners. Perhaps that's not particularly exciting. But there's something enormously impressive about someone who has built a business that consistently pays its bills, employs people and provides a reliable service year after year.

Maybe we should celebrate that a little more.

Maybe Entrepreneurship Isn't The Problem. The Marketing Is.

I don't think there's anything wrong with entrepreneurship itself. Australia needs people who are willing to take risks. We need people developing products, creating jobs, investing in new ideas and building businesses.

We should absolutely encourage young people who want to start something of their own. We shouldn't dismiss someone simply because their business is small, new or still in the planning stages. But perhaps we need to be more realistic about what we're encouraging.

Entrepreneurship isn't a personality.

It's not a motivational quote.

It's not a lifestyle photograph taken beside a swimming pool.

And it certainly isn't a guarantee of financial freedom.

Real business ownership involves uncertainty, responsibility, financial risk and a willingness to deal with problems that don't disappear when you close your laptop. The social media version frequently sells freedom, wealth, independence and status.

The reality often involves a great deal of work before any of those rewards become possible.

Perhaps the problem isn't entrepreneurship. Perhaps it's the carefully packaged version of entrepreneurship that has become so popular. We've taken something genuinely difficult and made it look effortless.

We've taken something risky and made it look like a guaranteed pathway to wealth. And we've taken something that isn't necessarily right for everyone and presented it as the ultimate measure of ambition.

Can We Just Go Back To Being Good At What We Do?

Maybe we've become a little too interested in titles.

Entrepreneur.
Founder.
Visionary.
Disruptor.
CEO.

They all sound terribly impressive. But what do they actually tell us? Not much, really.

Someone can call themselves an entrepreneur and have never made a sale.

Someone can call themselves a CEO and be the only person working in the business.

And someone can simply describe themselves as a mechanic while running a highly successful company employing twenty people.

Perhaps the title isn't particularly important after all.

Maybe success is building a profitable business that treats its employees well. Maybe it's creating something genuinely useful. Maybe it's being an excellent employee who enjoys their work. Maybe it's earning enough money to live comfortably without sacrificing every evening and weekend.

Or maybe it's simply being happy with the life you've created.

There's nothing wrong with ambition.

There's nothing wrong with dreaming about starting a business.

And there's certainly nothing wrong with taking the risk and giving it a go.

But perhaps we should stop confusing wanting to be successful with actually achieving something.

Because having an idea is easy. Talking about success is easy. Creating an impressive social media profile is relatively easy.

Building something that works, attracts customers, pays its bills, supports employees and survives the difficult years is another matter entirely. And perhaps that's where the real achievement lies.

So, is entrepreneur becoming a dirty word?

Maybe not.

But I do wonder whether we've made it so fashionable, so overused and so disconnected from the realities of business ownership that it's starting to lose its meaning.

Perhaps it's time we stopped asking people whether they're entrepreneurs and started asking them what they actually do.

And perhaps we should stop treating the answer "I have a good job and I love it" as though it's somehow less impressive.