It’s seems like only yesterday that James Cates Bailey was telling us, “Entrepreneurs are doers; employees are doees.” But 1999 is now six years and 2,500 double espressos ago. Bailey’s bestseller, The Art of the Entrepreneur, so hot and now for its time, is mostly forgotten.
But in many ways entrepreneurs and what they do are more important now than in '99. Many people were pushed into the deep end of entrepreneurship during the last recession, finding that the only ones who would hire them were themselves.
J. Michael Thorn’s new book is a shot in the arm of a ho-hum economy/job market and those who wish to succeed in it. Simply entitled The Superpreneur, it takes the concept of the American entrepreneur to a whole new level.
Thorn starts off his book with a joke:
It’s admirable that Thorn can eschew some of the self-seriousness to which today’s business books are prone. But beneath the jovial surface he makes a serious—and valuable—distinction between the two types of preneur, using Zen-like contra-couplets to drive home his points:
And so on. About 1/3 of the book is in the couplet form; the latter two thirds carefully and lucidly explains the Superpreneur Philosophy in a more standard format.
So, which are you? An entrepreneur or a Superpreneur?
I’m probably still in the entrepreneur phase, though like a moth in a coccoon I shall break free of this strangle hold and enter uberpreneur mode before level 20!
I actually am an entrepreneur right now though, I just am stuck in a holding pattern until finances pick up and I can move forward.
An entrepreneur has accounts receivable and accounts payable.
A superpreneur has trascended that type of dochotomous thinking and just has. . .accounts.
An entrepreneur works for herself.
The Subpreneur has trouble calling it “work” when she’s so underpaid for what she does.
An entrepreneur aims for success.
The Subpreneur, because of his sub-planning, stops before he succeeds.
An entrepreneur may or may not have employees.
The Subpreneur views all people—whether she pays them or is paid by them—as potential small-claims-court cases.
An entrepreneur manages assets.
The Subpreneur manages to get by without any assets.
An entrepreneur has gone his own way; no one can “boss” him any more.
The Subpreneur has found the way; in harmony with all, he neither controls nor is controlled. He is also never paid.
An entrepreneur looks at her financials.
The Superpreneur absorbs financial data with all of her five senses—and more.
Well, according to this, I’m not even an entrepreneur, much less a Superpreneur:
An entrepreneur works for herself.
Yeah, that’s what I thought at the beginning…
An entrepreneur aims for success.
I just hope I can balance my checkbook at the end of the month.
An entrepreneur may or may not have employees.
I can’t afford even one employee.
An entrepreneur manages assets.
I don’t even know what an asset is.
An entrepreneur has gone his own way; no one can “boss” him any more.
Today I had 5 phone calls from people demanding to know when their stuff will be delivered.
An entrepreneur looks at her financials.
I dread looking at my financials. I do it as infrequently as possible.
