How your world shapes you as an entrepreneur… If you let it.

Entrepreneur, social entrepreneur and intrapraneur are all titles I’ve worn through the past 24 years (or maybe a little more). Sometimes comfortably, sometimes not so.

Over the years I’ve discovered I’m wired for entrepreneurial thinking, something that was nurtured in the family home from a very young age. I’ve also discovered that people don’t always appreciate, understand nor support this frame of mind. As I edge closer to 50 I’m OK with that.

Me: full swing at a leadership event in 2016. Pic by my sister Robyn Grace

Growing up on a dairy farm in regional Australia my dad dealt his lessons in entrepreneurship in numerous ways. Two examples I recall are (1) The lesson of investment via buying, value adding and selling livestock or vegetables. Granted, he did do most of the heavy lifting however he also had the smarts to share the dividends with my sister and I (now THAT was motivational for a young person) and (2) It wasn’t all handouts, we also learned the lesson of hard work being offered opportunities to earn money according to our input. My mum chipped in too paying me to type (yes, on a typewriter) address labels and stuff envelopes for a mailouts from time to time.

My parents taught us to work hard, to have tenacity and to be resilient. Three characteristics I see as essential in entrepreneurship (and life).