You can't train an entrepreneur

There's was a lot of buzz last night around Sir Alan Sugar's talk at the British Library, where one of his comments was "You can’t train entrepreneurs, you either have the spirit or you don’t." (I wasn't there, however this was tweeted by Techcrunch UK editor Mike Butcher who's a reliable journalist). Almost all of the buzz is aghast at the comment, and equivocates it to such things as racism or in-born stupidity (both of which, I'll make clear, I don't agree with - as principles, or as similar to Sugar's remark).

Spirit is a trait that's different from intelligence, or skills. It's not something that comes from outside. Although it can certainly be affected by outside events, it's *not* something you can teach someone. Saying you need the spirit to be an entrepreneur is not saying you're a 'born entrepreneur' or not; it's something else, a willingness to put ourselves on the line and keep going. Let me share a bit of my own story, in the hope that it can explain my viewpoint.

I'm not a born entrepreneur, by any shot. My only money making activities as a teenager was some short stints as a bookshop assistant and as a waiter in the local hotel. No selling sweets to kids in the playground or lemonade stalls. I didn't even think about the possibility of business. I went to study Law at university, with the hope of heading to the bar afterwards. Some of the aspects of the bar that interested me are similar to being an entrepreneur - you work for yourself, make your own name, and there's a chance to make some serious cash if you prove yourself (after years of slogging it out for a pittance, with a tiny chance of actually getting into a chambers). It requires a lot of spirit, and most aspiring lawyers make the sensible choice of becoming solicitors in a big company instead. All successful barristers have that spirit that's driven them to the top.

After spending all my savings, loans, and more in my first year (showing off my great money management there) I needed to make some money, fast - and more than some minimum wage bar job. I got a job with a local company, charging pubs and restaurants to convert their licenses - a new system had come in place, and everyone *had* to change their license before the end of the summer. After a few weeks, I realised it was pretty easy, and I didn't see why some old guys were getting the money when I was doing the work. I opened an account for 'March Enterprises', printed some leaflets and went on a letter drop and went out on my own. A prospective client once asked for a business card, so I promptly went to a printers and had some printed for me (crappy flimsy black and white things); and I jotted down some basic accounts in a notebook.

By the end of the summer I'd made quite a bit of cash, and although I went back to the degree, I'd decided that I wanted to be an entrepreneur - the best in the world. I was reading Trump and every business book I could lay my hands on, and started getting involved with every business related activity I could find. After doing some evenings with the entrepreneur society attached to Durham business school I managed to hook into the business networking events in Newcastle and was soon flashing some newly printed, shiny business cards all over the place. I had a business idea, wrote a 60 page business plan (based on Business Plans for Dummies), and then somehow managed to get a business manager from a local bank branch who I met at an event to give me almost £100k in SFLG and overdraft, to a new limited company, with no personal guarantee, and no investors or mentors.

In preparation, I did a few Business Link training sessions (not much help for aspiring entrepreneurs - learning about cashflow is pointless when you don't have any), then quickly did what I thought I should do as a businessman - got offices, a team, an agency to build a website etc. I quickly burned through my cash, made a whole host of mistakes (don't need to go through all of them here...) and before I'd graduated had managed to lose it all. I'm not sure what the bank was thinking in giving a big pile of cash to a 20 year old, full time law student with no real business experience.

Although I avoided any personal bankruptcy, I had taken a large personal loan out to put into the business near the end, and graduated with a much bigger pile of debt than the average student - having had to fire my first employees, and with angry creditors threatening to sue, not nice student loan letters turning up once you get a proper job. The stress was pretty wrenching, and I even ended up getting a bad case of appendicitis as it happened, needing an operation and recuperation back home.

I was determined to get back in the game, and I was determined not to ever get a job or be an employee to anyone, ever, whatever it took. Examining my failure, I realised that I just knew *nothing* about marketing. I'm not just talking about advertising; I mean everything about markets outside of pure economics. What makes a customer? Why do people buy from companies? How do they hear about products and companies? I dedicated my time to learning about it, and decided that I wouldn't be taking any more capital or investment before I really knew what I was doing. I devoted my life to marketing, which lead to online marketing, and then eventually social media marketing. I was pushing myself out there to everyone who would give me an audience (something I do seem to be good at).

Consultancy jobs started to come in, although for a long time pretty much every penny went to paying off my debt. London was becoming a more regular haunt, as it seemed to be where *everyone* I was talking to was. I was starting to get more jobs there, and although I was still penniless and putting all the money I made into keeping the hounds at bay, I decided to move down to London - moving in with a friendly (and very accommodating) family member who gave me a roof and food. MySpace was still big and Facebook was coming on the radar, but social media marketing was low budget, and still pretty rare. I was still paying off my debt.

My insistence on doing my own thing despite having no money, at all, and working all the time, was making maintaining friendships with the guys I was with at uni (all now with city jobs) difficult. At one time, all my credit cards were over, my accounts were over the overdrafts, I still had a pile of angry creditors, and just £10 cash in my wallet. I shared a lift into central London for my meetings and spent that week walking rather than getting the bus or tube. There was a moment that week when I almost gave up. I remember it clearly. The pain of the failure and the debt and the ongoing, tedious plough of meetings, and the absolute lack of any money (even for the bus) was taking its toll. I went to the brink, but decided then and there that I wouldn't stop, even if they dragged me through the bankruptcy courts, and even if I had to walk all the way into central London everyday (from Zone 3, I should add). I'd made my choice, and I was going to stick with it.

Eventually, my work started to pay off. I was whittling down my debt, customers were increasing, and in early 2008 I teamed up with a brilliant business partner, Dan Lester. I had a million ideas and could talk the talk - Dan had a cooler head, and the technical skills to allow us to really walk the walk. We knew we wanted to build a technology company focusing on the new social networking platforms. We didn't have any cash or investment, but my previous consultancy was at least allowing me not to starve, and Dan had savings, so we were able to get our company off the ground without taking a salary all that year. Our first product, which we devoted most of 2008 to, never really took off; by the beginning of 2009 the landscape had changed significantly making it partly redundant, and we realised the fundamental model wasn't quite right. However, by then we were getting more well known, and had a rare skill - the ability and knowledge to build proper Facebook applications and campaigns. Companies started to turn more and more to Facebook for marketing, and we managed to pick up some great clients early on. Budgets were still experimental, but were growing. As the year went on, social marketing began the shift from being a side project to being the crux of online campaigns, and we were getting calls left right and centre from big London agencies to help them deliver Facebook campaigns for their clients. Budgets and ambitions were growing - and us with it.

Now we've built up a great team, a great client list, and healthy revenues. We're investing in our own products to help agencies and brands manage their social media campaigns, and are excited about the prospects for 2010. I've paid off all my debt, moved into my own place, and even bumped into a former employee in a coffee shop (and they didn't thump me). I even think I've learnt a lot along the way (including most of the things that I read or was told by other entrepreneurs before I started at the beginning - but nothing really sinks in until you've experienced doing it badly).

I wasn't born with the skills of an entrepreneur. I wasn't even born with some special spirit unique to entrepreneurs. I've got over myself a lot, and realised that the choice to be an entrepreneur (and it is a choice) isn't about whether you can or you can't - *anyone* can, if they really want to - it's just about whether you're willing to make the sacrifices, keep your head up despite failure, despite anguish, despite ridicule, despite lost friendships, despite all that time you lose ploughing into it, and keep striving to learn from your mistakes. Even if you're successful first time, you always know that if things go badly and the company fails, employees can just walk away - you've got to stay, clean up the mess and deal with consequences. That's what the 'entrepreneurial spirit' means. And sometimes I envy people who don't make that choice - who instead clock off at half five, and have more time for friends, for hobbies, for enjoying the small amount of time we have here. If anything, that choice is a better one. For whatever the reason, it's just not a choice I can make.

So - what I'm trying to say is that being an entrepreneur is a choice that has to be constantly made. You can't train that, any more than you could expect someone with a GCSE in woodwork to become a carpenter; it's something that you carve out through years of hard work and persistence.

That's not to say you can't keep encouraging kids to think about the possibilities though - I wish I'd realised the them earlier. I'm sure there are thousands of kids out there who would make the choice, if only they knew about it. But Sugar is right in that if you don't have the spirit, the ambition, the determination, then no amount of training in the world will make a jot of difference. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.