the inventor vs. the entrepreneur

Many ambitious people focus on the ever-consuming, existential question that drives a bit of fear into each of us...

"So, what do you want to do?"

A simple question, but for some reason, the openness of it drives that bit of existential dread into our brains every time. Perhaps it’s the implied acceptance of a path. Or that the implied lack of agency in the question itself makes us fear the answer.

Maybe cliché, as it's not a new thought, but the real question we should be asking:

"What do you want to be known for?"

There are two kinds of people who start businesses. The Inventor. And The Entrepreneur.

The Inventor wants to be known for creating the thing. The system. The product. The machine they built with their own hands. They want people to look at it and say, "You made that from nothing." Simple enough. They're obsessed with the “what”.

I view The Entrepreneur a little differently...

The Entrepreneur wants to be known for the culture they created. The people they led. The impact they had on people's lives. They want people to say:

"That place meant something."

"That brand stood for something."

"That team was different."

“I loved [insert brand].”

The Inventor is obsessed with the building.

The Entrepreneur is obsessed with how it comes to life.

Neither is wrong. And one is not more important than the other. But they're different.

Most people who start a business think they're supposed to be Inventors. They think that's what legitimacy looks like. Create everything from scratch. Suffer for it. Prove you can do it alone.

But is that actually what you want to be known for?

Or is it the other thing?

There's the old, famous Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken" that has probably been quoted by millions of people in an entrepreneurial context.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -  I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

Fantastic writing. And extremely true for life in general. The road less traveled.

However, it's incomplete. Taking the road less traveled does not mean you have to build the road yourself.

A surgeon doesn't forge the scalpel. A pilot doesn't build the plane. We don't think less of them for it. We judge them by what they do. The skill. The care. The experience.

The tool isn't the craft. It never was.

A franchise is a tool. It is the road less traveled, but with streetlights and directions. Operations. Playbook. Infrastructure.

But the culture? The leadership? The way your team treats people? The reason someone drives past three competitors to get to you?

That's the Brand. That’s the Experience. That's the Impact.

That's where The Entrepreneur shines. Championing it every single day. A piece of a brand that you own. That's yours. And what you get to focus on every day. What you become known for.

Franchisees are Entrepreneurs. They're not obsessed with who built the system. They're obsessed with what they're building with it. The culture. The impact. The thing that lasts.

The world doesn't pay you for how you struggled.

The world pays you to change the world.