After 20-something years of working as a freelancer in the film industry, I woke up one day to realize I was an entrepreneur. By definition, an entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. You may consider some hugely successful entrepreneurs in our lifetime for inspiration, such as Steve Jobs, Apple, or Sarah Blakely, Spanx.
I highly recommend reading ‘Steve Jobs’, by Walter Isaacson, or following Sarah to catch one of her very inspirational speaking engagements, or reading ‘The Spanx Story’. Sure, these folks went on to massive financial success, that doesn’t mean you can’t, or you have to either. The key here is accepting that venturing out on your own, with an invention, a service, or a grand idea, and taking on the risk and reward, makes you an entrepreneur.
For my fellow filmmakers, this includes just about all of you, from PA’s to Directors and especially actors, we are all in this together. Ok, I need to back track for a moment and mention one more inspirational entrepreneur from the 1940’s, and that is Andy Gump, a temporary site service, known for their porta-potties, based in Southern California. I guess you could say, I admire Andy’s gumption (yes, I went there) and willingness to do what others would run away from, starting with a septic business he purchased for $300. Andy’s business is a core example of entrepreneurial pursuits, filling a need and willing to take on whatever maycome. Entrepreneurs fearlessly go into the unknown, such as shirking the concerns of where will my next paycheck come from and not having a business degree, they just do it and ask questions later. Boy, I wish I knew this 20 or 30 years ago. More recently, I was turned on to the podcast, ‘How I Built This’ on NPR, inspirational stories about inspirational people and their unfaltering drive. The stories began to help me shape my own future story, to put my ideas and inventions on paper, computer, and into the real world, which is why I am sharing this: I am a filmmaker, an inventor, and an entrepreneur, navigating the road to development, prototype, and ultimately funding. I have set a task for myself, from this day forward, to write a post each week, sharing my thoughts on entrepreneurialism, inspirational discoveries, anecdotal stories and the search for Capital.
Stay tuned,
Jimmy