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Published on March 12, 2008

You abandoned the safety of the conventional world to sail off into unknown seas and discover business plans never before seen.

You were considered brave and daring. As with the explorers of yesteryear, most entrepreneurs died en route.

Sometimes it was glamorous - attacked by sea monsters, seduced by mermaids and embroiled in a corruption scandal.

Other times it was death by dysentery, syphilis or an unmanaged cash flow. Yet, true to form, we rarely hear, or care, about those that do not make it.

Those that do make it become heroes, hailed as leaders, gurus or visionaries to be followed.

Whole generations of disenfranchised cubicle workers start to daydream of glory, listening with envy to the tales of hidden treasures and untold riches.

Most will do nothing. Those are the sensible ones. They keep their dull jobs and their regular pay cheques and they will go through life without knowing what it is to really live.

That is assuming that to really live is to wake up in the morning with absolutely no idea how to pay your staff, deliver the goods you promised to your customers and pay dividends to your shareholders, whilst also finding five minutes of quality time with your family, a chance to trim your nasal hair and take your dog to the vet.

What is interesting about entrepreneurship is that the definition seems to have changed somewhat.

Growing up, I remember that an entrepreneur was someone that had built a very successful business.

Now being an entrepreneur seems to be less about the result and more about the process.

Anyone that attempts to start a business is considered entrepreneurial. Surely that takes away some of the mystique?

It is never good when you start having to introduce levels - the "struggling entrepreneur" to the "successful entrepreneur". There is no glory in being a struggling entrepreneur.

"I'm not unemployed, I'm an entrepreneur!" protest the recently redundant with their back-of-a-napkin business plans grasped in their sweaty hands.

Worse still are those who think they can be entrepreneurial within the corporate workplace.

"Corpreneurs", glamorous? Pah!