There are roughly 3.5 million entrepreneurs in the UK. That number represents a broad range of business-minded individuals engaged in a tonne of different commercial activities, from coffee shop owners to heavy industrial plant managers right the way through to miniature pig farmers or roller skate repair specialists.
However, if you scroll through social media on the regular, you could be forgiven for thinking that ‘entrepreneurs’ fit a certain type. These guys are all about the grind, worship Elon Musk and love a good (or not-so-good) inspirational quote.
Read on for five things anyone with ‘Entrepreneur’ in their Instagram bio needs to conform to.
And remember, if there’s an entrepreneurial opportunity you’d like to take advantage of, Almagrove can help you free up funds fast. Contact us to find out more.
1: They work in tech
Tech entrepreneurs seem to be everywhere. It’s hard to scroll through social media without stumbling across another radical prediction for the future by Zuckerberg et al, or a post by someone else commentating on their grand vision. It’s unsurprising when you think about it; these billionaires own the social platforms so they might as well use them to drive conversation.
Do other types of entrepreneur still exist? Of course they do. We just don’t know what they’re up to because they’re busy being textile tycoons, biscuit barons, or kingpins of concrete conglomerates in the real world.
2: They set their alarm for 4 am
One thing social media constantly reminds us is that while mere mortals laze around under the covers, business moguls like Jack Dorsey are up and at ‘em.
During a virtual Q&A session in 2016, the former Twitter CEO revealed that his alarm goes off at 5 am so he can meditate. He then performs a seven-minute workout which he repeats three times (he was quite specific about that) before grabbing a coffee and starting work.
But Dorsey’s routine is fairly leisurely compared to self-styled ‘rock star’ entrepreneur Ryan Blair, who told his TikTok followers that by 9 am he’s already acquired new skills, meditated, contemplated, worked out and eaten healthily. Which, frankly, sounds exhausting.
3: They hustle 24/7
The entrepreneurs we see on social media aren’t just up early — they’re ALWAYS ON.
Take Dorsey. The guy doesn’t take his nose off the grindstone until 11 pm. Marketing mogul Gary Vaynerchuck is out there ‘grinding while you’re sleeping’. And Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett says ‘hard work is how ordinary people achieve extraordinary things.’
The lesson? Don’t sleep on hard graft. In fact, don’t sleep at all.
4: They talk about crypto. A lot.
The entrepreneurs of social media tend to have a lot to say about the world of blockchain. It’s not just Tesla boss Elon Musk hyping up Dogecoin — there’s a whole sub-genre of teenage cryptocurrency millionaire influencers who post content about how much money they make (normally to tempt their followers into buying their trading tips).
Of course, there’s a whole other side to the (crypto) coin. Entrepreneurs do ‘take Ls’, although someone else normally posts about it.
5: They never let you know their next move
If you’re an entrepreneur on social media it’s imperative that you keep your followers guessing.
Elon Musk, for example. One minute he’s buying Twitter for $44 billion, the next he pulls out of the deal. When he and his indie pop star partner Grimes named their baby X Æ A-12 Musk, they didn’t just go against the grain, they fed the whole length of timber into a wood chipper. And who could forget the time he challenged Vladimir Putin to a fight?
The lesson: go crazy out there. No-one made billions by politely following convention.