California, 19th July 2008
Freedom – the word has many meanings and connotations, and sometimes all of them encompassed into one. There is freedom as defined by our democracies, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. I believe Freedom is one of our most fundamental needs, like food and water. Many people have lost their lives to gain or regain Freedom, or to maintain their right to it. I don’t think many people will disagree with me on this point, with the exception perhaps of the dictators of this world – of whom there are still too many. Of course there are many people who will tell you that freedom comes in many shapes and forms. For me that isn’t a valid point – freedom is Freedom.
Another way to express freedom to me is the freedom of the mind. This freedom can be expressed for instance by playing music, or being an artist or in my case by thinking up new business concepts and developing new territories in non-traditional ways. To explore your boundaries as an entrepreneur, to deal with limitations without letting it rule your capabilities.
In our society, people love to place you into a box, something they know and feel safe with. One should not really try too many things let alone fail at them. When you go to an investor for money – the first thing he or she will ask is whether you offer a service or a product and what it competes with so they can utilize models to do all the calculations. If it is something that is unfamiliar to them, they won’t even touch it.
With the E.Factor we experience the same thing – everyone wants to call it a Social Network or otherwise they don’t understand it. It really is so much more than that – it is focused on entrepreneurship, offering many different tools to help entrepreneurs in every stage of their business lives. So what should we call it?? Suggestions are welcome.
How often don’t you hear as an entrepreneur "Oh, you should not do that, you are bound to fail". People like security, which they will never find in my opinion anyway. Too many starting entrepreneurs listen to these type of messages and let themselves be talked out of what they felt they should do, or they taylor it to be more generic and fit in the public opinion. Everything to fit into that box.
For me, freedom is to do what you feel what you have to do, not to conform to what others think or say, follow your own gut feel. That is what makes entrepreneurs truly successful.