VIDEO: What Do Entrepreneurs Actually Do?

Our friends at the Foundation for Economic Education have a new video that gives a great short introduction to entrepreneuship, and what businesspeople actually do when they start a new venture.

FEE’s description:

Bob’s back in the job market and looking for a fulfilling career. He thinks entrepreneurship might be right for him. Seamus helps him understand what entrepreneurs actually do and they discuss the risks and benefits of entrepreneurship on this episode of Common Sense Soapbox.

The video corrects the common misconception that being a boss is mostly about making big bucks and ordering your employees around rather than working long hours and taking big financial risks. Not everyone has the stomach for the uncertain future that comes with trying to deveop a new business—most people prefer the prospect of steady work and a predictable paycheck, even if that means not getting rich some day.

Entrepreneurship also often doesn’t get credit for how creative it is, as creative as any artistic enterprise. CEI founder Fred Smith wrote in 2015:

We admire talented chefs for their creativity and their imaginative recipes. Sadly, we neglect the even-more creative ‘recipes’ that entrepreneurs devise to produce wealth and expand the economic frontier. Entrepreneurs deserve praise far more often than condemnation. Critics are quick to shame cronyist behavior, but too slow to commend the virtuous business leader who refuses to play the corrupt Washington game. Our focus on ‘sin’ rather than ‘virtue’ has created an unfair and inaccurate picture of how business really works.

Read more in “Virtuous Capitalism: Why there is Less Corruption in Business than You Think” here.