What Type of Entrepreneur Are You?

by Jeff Landers

Don't be fooled. Just because you have a desk and a stapler, that doesn't make you an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs do not define themselves as they are today. They define themselves by who they will be tomorrow. They are visionaries. They are always moving toward the future.

Now is the time to start realizing your dreams - to take that first baby step toward having the business you envisioned back when you were slaving away for a thankless boss at a company that couldn't care less about you.

Before you can begin to cure your ailing business and become a thriving entrepreneur, you must know who you really are and what you really want. Your business has to match you. The first thing you have to decide is whether you want to stay small or build an empire. No need to write a whole business plan that only you and your mother will read. Just picture yourself having the perfect business-what does it look like? How are you living your life?

I've discovered two very different types of home-based entrepreneur. I call them the 'Growth Maven' and the 'Lifestyle Guru'.

'Growth Mavens' know how to dream big, and have the ambition to match. A typical Growth Maven runs her business from home to cut down on overhead, but she dreams of the day when she'll be sitting in a suite on the top floor of her own office building. She believes in a future where she's the next mega-star like Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, or Martha Stewart - people who started their companies as a home-based business and turned them into multi-billion dollar empires. She knows that there is no limit to how much money she can make, and she has the drive to constantly innovate her business. But first she needs to move the business out of her house.

The 'Lifestyle Guru' just wants to be his own boss. He was sick of the office politics, the rush hour commute, the aggravating boss and spending far too much of his life in a windowless cubicle. What he wants is the chance to do things his own way, and to take joy in doing work he's good at and likes doing.

The Lifestyle Guru wants to work in her bathrobe and take a break in the middle of the day to play outside with her kids. She's ok with cleaning out her inbox late at night when the rest of the family is asleep. Sometimes she'll work on a weekend, but sometimes she won't. Her work fits in with the rest of her life, not the other way around. She knows there's a limit to how much money she can make, but she's bringing in a comfortable income and has more leisure time to spend with her loved ones. When it works, her life is pretty darn good.

I'm sure you already know whether you're more of a Growth Maven or a Lifestyle Guru, but if you want to verify your gut feeling, I have a short quiz available on the web and in my book that will help you know for sure.

Friend to the Home Based Entrepreneur Jeff Landers, author of http://www.thehomeofficefromhellcure.com  "The Home Office From Hell Cure," Helps You Learn How Your Home Office Could Be Repelling Clients.