Majority of us are employees and few are entrepreneurs. There are much more acceptable knowledge from the employee's view bouncing around than the ugly and realistic unacceptable perspective from entrepreneurs being spread around. Everytime, I came across such articles that tries to explain to the employees about entrepreneurs what the employees want to hear, I felt sorry for those majority that are going to be misled by this fad.
In the above-attached article fromt he straitstimes recruit page, it mentioned about being Focused and Self-sufficient in the 'Pitfalls' section. These are very realistic issues faced by entrepreneurs! Many employees may not have truthfully understood what it means by "staying focused". Employee has a definite job scope, wheras for an entrepreneur there may be several job roles at different times or even at the same time. Employee are told what to do, and Entreprenuers have to decide what to be done and have to do it themselves. Employees get paid at the end of the month even if they don't do well, wheras Entreprenuer usually faced a life and death issue for whatever they decide or do; and they may not get paid at all.
A wrong perception of Entrepreneurship which I kept hearing from employees:
"Do what one likes to do, and have more free time".
What an Entrepreneur is doing:
"Spend all time, Do what everyone hates to do, Introduce change to benefit more, earn more, and be successful".
Once you understand the Entrepreneurs are doing "something that everyone hates to do", you will realise why there is a need for Diversion when working on it. The worst scenario could be depression, otherwise if may just affect the progress as you cannot perform at your peak. Like a sportsman needs to be in one's comfort zone to perform. It is important because as an Entrepreneur one is gambling on all their time! Others may misinterpret this as "have more free time". Family members and friends of entrepreneur may feel that it is a Distraction. Of course there are also distractions around, which entrepreneurs have to be weary about, having the full control of time in own hands does not mean one is capable of managing it well. Especially, as a junior employee who depends on others to manage the schedules and deadlines.
Loneliness, is another test that entrepreneurs have to take. There may not be colleagues and like-minded partners that can be by your side when you work. It's not about doing your own work and nobody bothers you, that is efficiency. It is when you need another opinion, or someone to "chop" the seat when you go lunch, someone to listen to your grouses, someone to agree with you because both are on the same boat, and many more intangible reasons. It's not about finding someone who can answer difficult questions and solve difficult problems, where most employees find it safer in a big company where there are many talents around. Instead of going tea breaks and gossiping in the grapevines, Entrepreneurs are encouraged to do Networking to cure loneliness at the same time increase the chance of success. It really depends if killing boredom is your Diversion, and Networking is not your Distraction. You may find friends or even foes in networking, but it is a neccessity in business world. There are politics in the corporate world and not to mention the business world too. As an employee, you still get paid at the end of the month or move on to another ship, but for an Entrepreneur it is life and death issue, unless you quit business! I disagree that Networking can cure lonelinesss, but it does equipt an Entrepreneur with another necessary tool for the job.
