The Roles of the Entrepreneur

What are the roles of the entrepreneur? It’s important to know if you are considering starting a business (or already have one). This nugget contains some essential wisdom from one of my favorite books on entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is about creating a business around something you are passionate about, right?

You may be an artist, a writer, a healer, or someone good with numbers.

But if you want the key to a successful business doing what you love, you’ll need to understand a little more about the three essential roles of the entrepreneur.

What do I mean by entrepreneur roles?

Fortunately, an astute author named Michael Gerber has defined the three primary roles of an entrepreneur in his book, The E-Myth Revisited. If you are an entrepreneur (or considering entrepreneurship), I highly recommend this book!

Here is a brief overview of the three essential entrepreneurial roles as defined by Gerber:

1. 1. Technician
      The technician (not surprisingly) is the one who does the technical work of the business. They make the product or execute the service that is offered.
   2. Manager
      The manager is responsible for all business details, such as quality control, planning, budgeting, and operations execution.
   3. Entrepreneur
      The successful entrepreneur has the vision. They are innovators who see the big picture of how the business will grow and evolve over time. The entrepreneur is often the one who does the sales and marketing.

Each of these roles is necessary for a business’s success. That doesn’t mean each one has to be played by a different person, but that is one way to do it.

Entrepreneurial Questions to Ask

Now that you know about these three essential entrepreneurial roles, it’s important to ask yourself some questions.

Are you someone who can wear all these hats? Can you be a technician, a manager, and an entrepreneur?

Or do you need to think about other ways to fill one or more of these roles?

For instance, you can’t have a successful business without looking at the numbers. You need to be able to forecast income, costs, and other factors so you can budget effectively.

So, if you are an artist who hates dealing with numbers, the wise thing to do is find someone who can do that for you.

If you recognize you need to outsource one or more of these three entrepreneurial roles, how will you do it?

A few options are:

• Partnering with one or more people who can fill those roles
• Hiring a team
• Hiring a consultant

Most importantly, you must address the issue in some way.

Attempting to take on roles you don’t enjoy or aren’t good at will zap precious energy that you need to do what you love.

You will end up feeling like you don’t have time to do what you are passionate about— which is why most people want to start a business!

 

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And if you know a friend or neighbor who could use hearing the advice in this article or needs The Job I Love Toolkit, please forward this to them.