The line between insanity and entrepreneurship is razor thin (and at times, non-existent). Envisioning a world that no one else sees can accurately describe both camps. In an effort to build this alternate reality, entrepreneurs forfeit many of the common lifestyle “luxuries” granted by a normal 9-5.
When it comes to sleeping under your desk, living on a diet of red bull and ramen, and losing the distinction between “work” and “awake” (awork?), there are but two ways to cope: laugh or cry. This post attempts to bring about the former.
In the spirt of Jeff Foxworthy’s ”You Might Be A Redneck If“, I asked a few entrepreneurs to share some symptoms – or warning signs – of the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Below are their responses. Enjoy.
“25 warning signs that you might be an entrepreneur”
1) “If your shaving decisions are purely based on whether you’re going to have to meet a ‘suit’, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Liam Martin, co-founder at Staff.com
2) “If you lie to your doctor about the number of meals you eat, hours you sleep, and times you workout per week to spare yourself the lecture, you might be an entrepreneur.” – David Meyer, founder & CEO at Campuscene
3) “If the commute to your office is from your bedroom to the living room, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Amanda Barbara, VP and Founder of Pubslush
4) “If you spend more time with your co-founder than your spouse you may be an entrepreneur” – Danny Boice, co-founder and CTO at Speek
5) “If most of your wardrobe consists of free t-shirts you received from SXSW, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Natasia Malaihollo, CEO at Sooligan
6) “You’re the only one who hates pay day.” – Corey Egan, Co-founder & CEO at iLumi
- source: http://trustmeiamalawstudent.tumblr.com/
7) “If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is check your Github, you might be an entrepreneur. (Also, good job on actually building shit instead of just talking about it).” – Ben Parr, co-founder & Managing Partner, DominateFund
8) “If you sleep like a baby – waking ups several times throughout the night worrying how and when they will eat, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Andrew Jacobson, founder and CEO at 360Candidate
9) “If your idea of a holiday is a working day on which work doesn’t interfere with the work you really need to be working on, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Dr. Janice Presser, CEO at The Gabriel Institute
10) “If you work over 60 hours a week and earned more hourly babysitting in high school, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Tim Tierney, COO at Stock Mfg. Co
11) “If you wear your company t-shirt every day except for weddings and funerals, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Misha Leybovich, CEO at Meograph
12) “If your definition of light reading includes comparing and contrasting preferred equity and convertible notes, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Karim Varela, co-founder and President at SocialTagg
- source: thyme-and-tomes.tumblr.com
13) “If you know the time in Bangalore without thinking about it, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Gregory Jaros, founder and CEO at Spare to Share
14) “If your 9-year-old kid designed your last company logo, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Ozzie DiVinere, CEO at ForwardMetrics
15) “If you get more SMS alerts from people you follow onTwitter than friends in your address book, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Jimmy Odom, founder at WeDeliver
16) “If an employee leaves at 8pm, and someone says ‘only working a half-day, John?’, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Hunter Gray, co-founder and Chief of Product at Calaborate
17) “If you regularly quote Steve Jobs, not so much to inspire other people but to keep yourself from falling apart, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Natasia Malaihollo, CEO at Sooligan
18) “If lying underneath your desk and catching a little sleep seems perfectly normal, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Jamie Walker, founder at SweatGuru
- source: gifatron.com
19) “If you have an Airbnb guest sleeping on your couch and your cofounder and his wife sleeping on an air-mattress in your room, you might be an entrepreneur” – Aksh Gupta, founder at Occsn
20) “If you tell your family, friends, or even girlfriend to send you a calendar invite to talk for 5 minutes, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Shahzil Amin, CEO at Blue Track Media
21) “If you go to the bathroom to hide from your girlfriend so you can write some notes down about a killer thought you just had without getting in trouble for interrupting dinner, you might be an entrepreneur.” – David Leibner, founder and CEO at Drinkboard
22) “If whenever you or a friend you are with have a problem, you check to see if there is an app for that – and if there isn’t – you begin to formulate the business model and software architecture in your head to see if it is a sustainable business, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Jonathon Lunardi, founder at Military Job Networks
23) “If your spouse actually understood your recent rant about the term ‘growth hacking’ then you may be an entrepreneur” – Danny Boice, co-founder and CTO at Speek
source: adweekmag.tumblr.com
24) “‘If you instantly recognize the best seats at your favorite coffee shops and co-working spots by their vicinity to power outlets, you might be an entrepreneur.” – Eric Rabinovitz, co-founder at LilyPad Solutions
25) “If the word “pitch” no longer triggers thoughts of baseball, but a flurry of emotions, usually panic, then you might be an entrepreneur.” – Natasia Malaihollo, CEO at Sooligan