Wantrepreneur: Advice For Every Undecided and Young Entrepreneur

Wantrepreneur/Wantreprenurship

Noun

  1. The act of wanting to be an entrepreneur i.e setting up your own business or exploring an idea you have
  2. Informal: The act of constantly talking about your ideas with like minds, dreaming about quitting your job and/or researching “how to start a business”

“She’s more of a wantrepreneur but I’m sure she’ll become an entrepreneur soon”

When I was eight, I wanted to start a publishing house. When I was 12 an online boutique. When I was 18, my dream was to own a bank. When I was 22, I wanted to start a restaurant. When I was 23, it was an online magazine. I’ve had so many ideas and plans and desires, and they have varied sometimes drastically, but one thing has remained constant; they all involved me being an entrepreneur. I believe a lot of people can relate to this. So many young adults and millennials, if I dare say, have a desire for entrepreneurship and creativity. A lot of them just haven’t figured out a way to transform these ideas into actual plans or courses of action, to move from being a wantrepreneur to entrepreneur. And that’s ok.

wantrepreneur to entrepreneur

Image source: mydubsado

The first wantrepreneur I ever met was at Business School —when I was a wantrepreneur myself. Let’s call him M. M was always working on a new project, and he was always full of ideas (is still full of ideas). I felt comfortable running my sometimes wacky business ideas through M because he always gave me insightful feedback and constructive criticism. But most of all, he understood the desire to go from being a wantrepreneur to an entrepreneur. He never laughed at me or my ideas. I remember once after trivia night at a bar, we stayed back and talked for hours about the fictitious T-shirt company I was going to start. There’s still no T-shirt company, but that conversation gave me so much new knowledge and confidence in my ideas and in my ability to have ideas.

believe in your ideas and yourself

For every wannabe self-starter, preceding the fear of failure is the fear of sounding like a fool or of being laughed at. At the risk of sounding like Gandhi, you must not let that fear cripple you. Believing in yourself is the first and most important step. Soon others will join in and believe in you too. 

wantrepreneur to entrepreneur

Image source: Letterfolk

Entrepreneurship comes with glorious chaos that is unparalleled. That desire to be your own boss or bring an idea to life can cause constant restlessness. Think of it as a burning desire. Sometimes it may seem like a burden, but the unease you go through is just your dreams knocking at the door and tugging at you to come to get it. I’ll take that any day over the feeling of lack of motivation or the feeling of doing something you hate.

As dear ol’ Mark Twain put it: “the two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.” So bask in your ability to have ideas, talk about these ideas, find a mentor in a field you are interested in (more on this later). Be present in your current position, job, career, or indecisive state while you make your big or small plans. Most of all, believe in your ideas and yourself.

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Jiji Ugboma

Editor in Chief

Jiji is a writer, entrepreneur, and digital marketing specialist based in New York. She writes about personal development, self-actualization, mental health, and creativity as they relate to the quarter-life crisis experiences of millennials and gen-z. She has a deep love for quirky podcasts, coffee, and chocolate desserts.

11 Comments
  1. Love reading your story Jiji! It’s funny because the idea of being an entrepreneur always scared me. There seemed to be so much at risk and it seemed to be so much work and stress (which it kind of totally is at times LOL). Starting my own projects has kind of happened as a reaction to the realization that I didn’t want to spend my precious time working for someone else, working on their dream when I had so many of my own. I guess the wantrepreneur gene blossomed late in me haha!

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