Get the Entrepreneur Attitude

As you think about your writing life, do you think of yourself as an entrepreneur? For many writers, it is a huge step for them to wear the name of writer or author. 

Maybe you have written for years and are starting to get some magazine articles published but never written a book. Or maybe you have gotten your first book published but few people have purchased it. Or maybe your writing life is chugging along with a few articles each year and a few newspaper articles but not much else to talk about. Yes, you attend a conference or two each year but aren't earning much from your writing and you definitely aren't in a position to quit your day job. If you click this link, you will learn about six well-known authors who did not quit their day job.

How do you make this attitude adjustment? One key step is to begin to think of yourself as an entrepreneur and small business person—yes as a writer. Recently I read a great book on this topic, The Reluctant Entrepreneur by Michael Masterson.

In the first chapter, Masterson sets a new definition for Entrepreneur. He adds the modifier “Reluctant” and the combination makes for a fascinating and compelling book full of insights.

To begin your own business, you do not have to risk everything or quit your day job or feel like you have to parachute out of an airplane. Instead you can take limited risk and calculated steps which can lead to a successful new business.

Michael Masterson charts the course for every reader in this well-written book. Bring your highlighter because if you are like me, you will regularly be marking different pages to return to them for action. Each chapter has well-drawn lessons with experienced insights.

Many readers can gain from a careful reading and personal application of this material. I loved the critical question which begins the second chapter, “Most would-e entrepreneurs are motivated by an idea—an idea for some great new product. But they almost never ask themselves the big question: Is this the kind of product I can actually sell?” (page 21) Then he continues, “There is only one way to find out if your product is good, and that is to start selling it. The sooner you start selling it, the faster you will know. (Most products, it turns out, are not as good as the inventor—or her son—thinks they are.)” (page 23)

A careful reading and application of this material to your own business ideas will cut years of rabbit trails and failure from your life. Instead you can follow the well-worth path to success that successful business man and multi-millionaire Michael Masterson has blazed for readers through The Reluctant Entrepreneur.