An entrepreneur or unemployable?

My working life is somewhat mixed in terms of employers, I have worked either directly or indirectly for a number of large business enterprises. I have also been employed both part time and full time intermittently by small business, I have owned and operated a couple of small business enterprises working as a sub-contractor on most occasions. This is a less stable form of employment offering flexible working arrangements and greater potential for short term remuneration.

All in all, I would consider myself a skilled company worker, that is, in all respects an employee. To do this, I needed to not only gain entry level skills and knowledge, I needed to constantly learn on-the-job updating skills and knowledge vital to my employer's needs.

When I look at an entrepreneur, I see a person not only willing to take risks, I see the generation of new ideas, products, processes and ultimately the creation of employment driving the economy. Entrepreneurial activity must be encouraged by government to attract both small and medium enterprises and their benefit to economic development.

Many people are scornful of small business owners in respect to the success they have gained, my personal views are they deserve any financial success they may have achieved. Entrepreneurial activity drives the economy, small to medium business enterprises are a major employer of people driving the economy.

That being said, most entrepreneurs tend to make lousy employees, I know this because working for a number of entrepreneurial types, they tended to be the ideas type while I looked at operational issues. They would come up with an idea sketched out on a scrap of paper or drawn up on a white board, I would then throw a costing together to see if the idea is viable, an operational plan, logistics and any other foreseeable issues.

From what I have noticed, the entrepreneurial types seem to be big picture strategic types whilst I tend to concentrate on the mechanics of the proposal. I have very much an operational mindset, this can be a very good partnership, a creative thinker teaming up with a functional thinker covering a broad spectrum.

But why do entrepreneurial types tend to not work well in existing companies? It is my belief the creative mind does not work well in a contemporary setting as the creative person seeks to expand the scope of the job, not working well in existing boundaries or tied down by group norms or established principles of operation. In short, the creative person tends to push the frontiers to exceed the limits of job or project.