Not all inspiration is created equally.<...>
In my journey as an entrepreneur, I've made so many incredible people: founders & entrepreneurs that have built amazing businesses far beyond my own achievements.
Individuals who have been incredibly generous with their time, support and advice.
Individuals who have been happy to share their stories and experiences in such a transparent way that I'd need to be a complete twat not to learn from it.
These individuals and my interactions with them have been nothing short of inspirational.
But I've recently realized that there's another type of individual that inspires me even more: a wantrepreneur.
WTF!?
What are you smoking, Adii?
Well, it's true. Albeit for loads of different reasons as to why successful entrepreneurs inspire me.
I interact with many wantrepreneurs and there's always this common characteristic that I encounter (in some way or another) with all of them: a hope that tomorrow can and will be better.
Many of these wantrepreneurs are stuck in corporate gigs, which makes it more complicated to take the plunge into starting something of their own.
I've spoken about starting (and being scared to do so) often on my blog, but there's always one little (unmentioned) caveat to that: the facts from one individual's situation is different to the next. If starting up was a simple choice, then we'd have millions more entrepreneurs in the world. But we don't.
Because life gets in the way. And life (with a family to support, kids that needs your attention and mortgages to pay) is very much a grey area.
So any advice to just quit your job today and start working on your own thing excludes any consideration of the nuances involved.
And that's why I'm so inspired by the hope & belief of wantrepreneurs. Being stuck in a complicated situation (with no obvious route forward) can bring the strongest individuals to their knees. Yet, these individuals are steadfast in their belief that they will eventually figure out the next couple of steps.
Experiencing that hope and belief within those interactions is helping me clear my own mind about my journey.
It is helping to restore the almost-blind belief I had when I started working on WooThemes back in 2007.
And it is most definitely adding to the momentum that will once again see me working on something of my own.
There's a great deal that should be said about looking up to and learning from role models.
But one should never underestimate where inspiration can come from, because inspiration can come from anywhere.
Whilst I wouldn't necessarily learn loads of tactical things from a wantrepreneur, I've sure rediscovered some of the core components of what it means to be an entrepreneur.
Keep hoping and believing.