I am one of those people to whom some of the expectations of entrepreneurship does not always apply, but I regard myself one at all time by its truest definition, whether I am employed by someone else, running my own business or even doing both simultaneously. I always wonder why people would confine themselves with expectations when I hear someone say “I could never work for someone else” when in actual fact, even as an entrepreneur you are always working for someone else.
I formally registered my own company at the end of 2015 when I started getting some freelance work and felt the need to formalise my business and offering, which at the time was only public relations. I eventually grew and started adding content services, media buying and basically any skill that I picked up to the point where I could do it well enough to offer as a service to either individuals or businesses.
After a while I rejoined the “formal” workforce, but in an arrangement that was different to what “normal” employees are used to. This one, unlike my previous ones, would allow me the security of a job, but still have the time to dedicate to my business without much interference or opposition.
I don’t believe that I stopped being an entrepreneur. In fact, if we go by the definition of an entrepreneur which is someone who identifies a need and starts a business that services that need, then I would still be an entrepreneur even if I had shut the doors of my own company down completely to take up this new role.
I would still be a business, my skills would be my service and my employer would be the target market who had the need for my skills which I would be exchanging with them for money. I used the same logic in the running of my business. I am the entrepreneur that started the business, but I am also an employee using my skills towards the advancement and success of the business.
After two years, I can feel the winds of change starting to blow in my life again and I am reflecting on my professional journey thus far and the direction which I see it taking. I am confident in my skills and knowledge and have found that to move onto the next level, I need to be in an environment that does not stifle any of my professional or personal ambitions.
I cannot be confined to the expectations of what an entrepreneur is supposed to be nor the rules of how an employee is supposed to be. Whatever situation I find myself in, I need to be able to use my skills and knowledge to the best of my ability, in aid of my client – be that client an organisation that employs me or an individual who contracts me to do their PR.
