3 ways of talking about “entrepreneurship” without numbers…

I get the feeling there are too many entrepreneurship articles that start like “5 myths about…” or “10 tips to overcome…” or “The 6 mistakes…”. Even though I'm convinced they’re too many, I always feel compelled to read them and thought of using the same logic on this one because it just might work...

I guess my desire to read these articles comes from the belief that inside I can find a quick recipe to deal with the most common issues an entrepreneur faces… but in the end, frustration is the most probable outcome from my endeavor inside those recipe lists.

I pretty sure that when creating new businesses from scratch there’s no quick recipe to be followed, simply because we’re not in a static "discrete" world… It’s more like an unstoppable "analog" world

I can’t waste any time!

I value the power of a list! It lets me be more efficiency, it allows me to prioritize execution, it can easily turn the unachievable big task into small doable tasks and it even gives me the advantage to skim through and get a glimpse of what to expect just by looking at each number’s headline.

I guess these “recipe" lists are so damn popular because on this fast, connected and “big data” world you cannot waste any time by looking at the unimportant details! You must use time in a much optimized way and absorb the biggest amount of data possible! Otherwise you might be missing out the next great opportunity! You should be sampling because it’s the right (efficient) way!! Why shouldn’t you be sampling?

Wasting vs investing

What if you chose not to sample? Then you are going to spend more time in each specific subject! This means that you will need to get inside the story… and once you get inside this story, you will see a few adornments like trees, colors or lights that are not a must for you to “get” the big picture, but will certainly give you the needed details to “feel” the big picture. It’s almost as when you meet someone that you really want to know better… Are you able to know that someone through a list of specs?

Power of Lists vs Power of Stories

I know that turning ideas into real businesses it’s a highly variable process and I’m sure that during that process, sometimes you will need to sample and other times will have to go deep into a subject. It’s like saying that you need two superpowers to fight for success (or survival): “power of lists” and the “power of storytelling”

Ultimately there’s no ideal recipe and the use you make of both “powers” depend, among others, on the ecosystem, the available time, the mood and the subject. During all steps of the entrepreneurial journey you take, you will have to build a great team that possess both powers because you are going to need them at any time. That will make your endeavor a lot easier!

Three ways of “feeling entrepreneurship” through stories

So, going back to the purpose of the title, I’ve decided to aggregate into a list three of the stories that I like most! I love to listen to Jeff Bezos story on “gifts”, listen to Steve Jobs’ “list” of stories (specially the one connecting the dots) and of course listen to all the possibilities that are awaiting for us when we start “walking” through Dr. Seuss’s words.

1. Jeff Bezos “gifts”
2. Steve Jobs “connecting the dots”
3. Dr Seuss “Oh, the places you’ll go”

These stories make me feel something! And I'm pretty confident to say that at the end of the long list of tasks you must complete, there’s always room for a list of stories for you to tell!