Are Entreprenuers born or made?

The year is 1986.

A young girl in Sydney has a passion for craft, and a strong motivation to supplement her modest pocket money.

She weaves both together, when at age 12, she spends any spare time outside of school trawling the $2 shops (which were still a novelty back then!), buying plain baskets, satin flowers and ribbons.

She takes these baskets home and decorates them to the nines, occasionally filling them with home-made pot-pourri until a retail range of sorts is formed. Then on a Saturday morning, she takes a small folding table down to the local shopping village and “sets up shop” on the street, selling her eclectic wares to local residents. While the takings were modest, the profit margins were healthy and even back then, they were enough to save up for the latest fluorescent shirt or record album.

No prizes for guessing that this girl was me. And looking back, it’s clear that this was my entrepreneurial “bent” in action.

Last night, more than 30 years later, it got me thinking.

What happened in the years after that? Did my entrepreneurial spirit “go dark” as I studied and had my first jobs – only to re-emerge 14 years later when I founded my first successful startups at age 26? (I did half-attempt one at age 23, albeit unsuccessfully)

Despite my seemingly entrepreneur-ish childhood – picking berries from the bush behind the house in order to make jam and sell it to my parents and neighbours, to putting on chargeable productions (puppet shows) complete with tickets, costume and audience seating – at the age of 13 I got my first “real job”.

Back then, it was awesome. I worked at the local swimming pool kiosk serving drinks, hot dogs and snacks. Legally working wasn’t permitted until 14 years and 9 months so that kept me going until I started my first “legal job” – at 14 years 6 months(!) – in the local pharmacy. After a year there I “graduated” to the local accounting firm – doing filing and other odd jobs. At 16, I accepted a job at the local solicitor’s office, where I stayed for four years as an administration assistant.

It was a great job to have while studying: for a school kid it felt prestigious, was quite autonomous, and it opened my eyes to an array of weird and wonderful cases that would come across the desk of a suburban legal practice.

Once I completed university, where I followed my passion in foreign languages and studied German, Russian, Linguistics and Media Studies, I took a job working in the Marketing department of a tourist retailer in Sydney, and thus honed my passion for Marketing and Public Relations.

Three years later, I landed my dream job in a Sports Marketing agency, setting up in Sydney for the impeding Olympics. It was a dream come true and combined all of my professional interests – marketing, tourism, sport and foreign languages.

I was 24 when I started this job and by age 25, I was promoted to General Manager. By the age of 26, during the Olympics, I had oversight for close to 100 staff with about a dozen direct reports - almost all of whom were older than myself. My Head of Security was a former Secret Service agent for the Queen!

While it was a rather glamorous role, I had my work cut out for me and I learned some tough lessons. Like how to manage people with kindness and understanding, while ultimately taking responsibility for a multi-million dollar project.

And then there was the gender thing. It was still the 1990's. Being a woman in that role was tough – but being a young woman in that role was borderline ridiculous to some.

I looked particularly young for my age, despite cutting my hair a-la Hilary Clinton and wearing pensioner-inspired earrings. I recall countless occasions where I showed up to meet with senior executives of some world-renowned names, only to be asked if I were the secretary and then dealing with the subsequent shock of a largely-male cohort realising I was a key business partner within the organisation.

However the most significant legacy that this job left me with wasn’t the management experience that I gained, nor or was it the gender challenge.

No, the most indelible impression that was made on me during that period was the life and freedom gained through Entrepreneurship. The owner of the firm was a man who had travelled the world for nearly 30 years, setting up agencies in every Olympic city – Summer and Winter – and forming a team to service his long-standing clientele of Corporations, Governments, International Sports Federations, Media outlets and more.

As a writer and a journalist turned sports-marketer and business owner, he taught me so much about the life of an entrepreneur. He took risks. Sometimes they paid off, and large sums of money were made with relatively little effort. Other times, financial investments into projects, along with much sweat, barely came to fruition, sometimes not at all.

I observed him "cut his losses" on several occasions and move onto the next thing when it was clear something wasn't working.

I also watched him “spend money to make money”, and coming from a conservative lower-middle class family, many aspects of his lifestyle and business operations I found initially quite lavish. However, I later realised that this ‘excess’, and a certain level of quality in production was a ‘necessity’ for that line of business. He showed me that excellence and quality paid off.

When my contract finished after the Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth Games and Sydney 2000 Olympics, I had multiple opportunities to work with some big name corporations in their Marketing departments. Many people, including my boss at the time, thought I should take that up, yet by now I’d tasted Entrepreneurship again, and for me it was too good to put back on the shelf.

I was invited to take on some very lucrative projects, and so founded my own Marketing agency. It was also the dot com boom, and so the following year I co-founded a pioneering e-commerce business selling and delivering everyday Australian products to expats all around the world, from backpackers to celebrities. It was Qantas Airways’ first ever “website of the month” – a section they created just to feature our business! And with news from home, community portals and a connection to all things Australian, we built a huge community of loyal followers.

The rest, as they say, is history. I successfully exited the e-commerce business in 2008 following the birth of my second child. The Marketing agency I started, however, is thriving and has been reinvented several times. And along the way, there have been various other initiatives that ebbed and flowed with me. Most recently, I co-founded EntreprenHer, a School of Entrepreneurship for teenage girls.

This evening, after a day at work, followed by a kinder picnic, and then a school concert, my kids were in bed way later than usual, I was finally also preparing to retire myself. As I stepped into the shower, the baskets I used to make and sell when I were 12 flashed before me – as did the question of whether an Entrepreneur is born or made.

I believe that there are a group of humans that are naturally wired that way. Approximately 8% in any population, according to statistics.

Some naturally fall into entrepreneurial pursuits in their youth, others discover their gift as an adult, while some, not at all. After a healthy start to business as a child, for 14 years my entrepreneurial gifts laid dormant, at the whim of high school, tertiary studies and a “good job”. I didn’t know any business people or entrepreneurs in my family or circle of friends, so I didn’t have any role models.

But when I did come across a role model that embodied the spirit of an entrepreneur, that intrepid owner of an agency that hired me as an ambitious 24-year old, I was immediately drawn back. You could say I was hooked, having the privilege to work inside that business for three years in order to be able to see the ins-and outs, the highs and lows, and the modus operandi. Even now, I know much of it has stuck and inspired me to follow my own entrepreneurial pursuits.

Just because the gift is “in you”, it doesn’t always come out automatically. There are many circumstances in life that will snuff out passion – and in the absence of a role model or someone to show the way, the more traditional path will usually be the default.

But even for those who aren’t part of those who are naturally wired to step out and take risks as an entrepreneur, it is encouraging to see how useful neural pathways can be created.

For instance, the proliferation of an entrepreneurial mindset amongst 20-somethings in our society is something I find really inspiring. They have a way of looking at the world outside the parameters of “the norm” – where calculated risks are wisely taken, investments are made and you give yourself permission to fail, then get back up and try again without fear of judgement.

Whether you adopt the entrepreneurial mindset as an employee, pushing the boundaries of innovation, design thinking, technological advancement and creative thinking within your organisation, or whether you adopt it as a manager, understanding the correlation between purpose and satisfaction, and finding ways to allow people to connect with their passions through their work – this is the entrepreneurial mindset in action.

What’s important is recognising that wherever you are on the “Entrepreneurial Spectrum”, there are valuable lessons to be learned by embracing this mindset and applying it to your job, your life and your outlook.

The buzz and thrill of stepping into the unknown is incomparable when it comes to satisfaction and self-worth. While there is inherent risk in any entrepreneurial endeavour, it is hugely rewarding when you see even the smallest of successes and the fruit of your labours becoming tangible!

Everyone’s appetite for this will be different, but even “in moderation”, entrepreneurship brings joy, enthusiasm and a sense of vision for the future.

So wherever you are on the “Entrepreneurial Spectrum”, surround yourself with people who are going to challenge you, encourage you and inspire you to greater heights. If you’re the biggest fish in a small pond, your perception of what’s possible will be skewed and you’ll likely end up under-utilising your potential.

Always aim to connect with people who are doing way more than you and who you may find intimidating, because it will expand your own way of thinking and you’ll pick up values, habits and mindsets more valuable than you realise.

Even today I seek out those opportunities, and if one comes my way I’ll pay the price to build relationships with people who are going to inspire me to go higher.

Your mind is a muscle and like any muscle, it needs to be exercised and trained in order to reach it’s full potential.

Think about what this means to you. Maybe it means that one day you start your own business, or take an entrepreneurial approach to running someone else’s. Or maybe it applies to you as you forge out a career that aligns with your passion. Perhaps it’s even relevant in family life, with you doing what you need to your family be at its best and thrive.

Whatever the application, an entrepreneurial mindset is powerful. Know that your life will be the better for having expanded your horizons, and gaining the confidence to step out, start something, speak up, or go against the tide.

The journey is fraught with challenges, highs and lows – but the ultimate reward, and the benefits it brings into your character, in business, and in life, are priceless.