Entrepreneurs: The Most and Least Important Person in a Business

I was pondering something this evening about which I read a lot last summer, and that's what it means to be an actual entrepreneur (this pertains more to offline, brick-and-mortar, businesses than online, but the principles are the same, nevertheless).

Everything I read about being an entrepreneur was basically the same: it's a romanticized position that is often over-glamorized. You're the boss, but are you?

You are the most important person because the buck stops with you. It's probably your money, idea, concept, heart, and soul. As Founder, unless you go public, or are Steve Jobs, you aren't getting canned. You may go out of business, but you won't find yourself fired the next morning. Oh, and you're seen as genius if you're successful. And you may be able to afford a fleet of Ferraris.

You are the least important person because everyone is more important than you. Your customer come first, your vendors come first, your employees come first. You need to pay everyone else before you pay yourself. If your site is down at 4AM, guess what? You get to fix it at that point! You never have a day off, which will effect some people more than others. You probably get the point. And you may (or likely at the beginning, will) work ridiculous and ridiculously long hours.

A great book is the Entrepreneurial Equation. It's about the attributes one needs to succeed, generally, at starting his or her own businesses.