From time to time I have examined some of the common myths people have (including entrepreneurs themselves) about entrepreneurship. I ran across this report published in 2001 by the National Commission on Entrepreneurship in my archives that has an interesting discussion about common myths about entrepreneurship they found in their study.
This report identifies five common myths:
1. Entrepreneurs are bet-it-all risk takers. I have called this the entrepreneurs are gamblers myth. This has generally proven not to be true, particularly with successful entrepreneurs!
2. The High-Tech Invention Myth. This is also known as the home run myth. This is the notion that every entrepreneur is trying to invent or come up with the next great invention. Very few entrepreneurs, including those in the Inc. 500, have in mind that their business is some great breakthrough. Hit for average, not for home runs!
3. The Expert Myth. This states that there is an assumption that you have to be the expert in your field to make it as an entrepreneur. This is sort of a corollary to my discussion on the Experience Myth.
4. The Strategic Vision Myth. This discussion dispels the common myth that business planning is a calculated event. In a recent post I discussed the difference between business plans and business planning, which gets at the same idea.
5. The Venture Capital Myth. The fact is venture capital funds a tiny fraction of businesses in the country. True, some are really big winners, but their numbers and overall economic impact are really quite modest. And very few of the venture capital deals actually have the kind of IPO hit that so many entrepreneurs naively dream about.