Beethoven's teacher called him "hopeless as a composer." He held his violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions, but he became known as one of history's greatest composers.
Walt Disney was fired by his newspaper editor who said he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times, but finally built Disneyland.
Babe Ruth held the record for strikeouts (1,330), but later held the home run record with 714.
Thomas Edison's teacher said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "unproductive," made eventually 1,000 unsuccessful attempts, but invented the light bulb.
The director of Blue Book Modeling Agency once told Marilyn Monroe that she "better learn secretarial work or else get married."
You may call them composers, athletes, actresses, inventors, or visionaries; I call them entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur is defined as a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
However, its origin stems back to 1828 when it meant "one who undertakes or manages," from the original word, "entreprendre," which means to "undertake." I consider these people not only by their professional labels, but also by their entrepreneurial character to live an "entrepreneurial lifestyle," developing their specific skills and undertaking their dreams while they develop themselves as individuals.
My business partner and I are frequently asked why we want to be entrepreneurs, why we are taking time off from school, or why we are taking a "risk." It's not always easy to convey our reasoning or explain our burning desire and passion to follow these dreams. I bring up these examples to make an analogy that the core of entrepreneurship isn't only about starting a business from scratch, but that it's more about actually living an entrepreneurial lifestyle.
What I mean by this is that entrepreneurship is really about developing and building yourself while undertaking a dream, project, goal, or business that doesn't have a specific recipe or process one can follow. I define an entrepreneur as anyone who partakes in any such activity. As people engage in these "undertakings," they start living an entrepreneurial lifestyle. In order to start a business or become a professional athlete, singer, composer, or inventor, these entrepreneurs must make specific commitments and sacrifices that affect all other aspects of their lives. In most cases, they must change many of their living habits to achieve their goal - this is why I believe that entrepreneurship can be better defined as a type of lifestyle.
2008 Woodie Awards
