For the past year, I’ve been contemplating the meaning of Entrepreneurship. I found these two definitions:
- Merriam-Webster: “one who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.”
- Dictionary.com: “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.”
For many years, I considered being in the field of education as the complete antithesis to entrepreneurship. There was no risk in being a teacher, no enterprise or company that needed to be managed. To me and many others, entering the field was considered a “safe” career and one that could last a lifetime.
I did not consider how long I would remain in the profession when I started my career as an educator almost 20 years ago. I have come to realize that what drew me to the field was my love of learning, my love of language, and my commitment to service.
It was 8 years into my career that I began to feel stifled and I sought a change. I shifted gears after 8 years teaching high school English and transitioned to teaching Composition at the college level. For a while, as I learned the job and dedicated myself to my love of learning, language, and service, I was fulfilled. After about 5 years, I began to feel that something was missing. I struggled–unable to articulate exactly what IT was. I sought a PhD and realized that it was still not enough.
After years of searching and contemplating, I’ve come to realize that it is the structures of our educational institutions which I found so stifling.
What was missing was the freedom required that comes with initiative and risk. Continuing with this profession means that I accept that I will negotiate with those structures and find a way to work within those structures even when I will be limited to the initiative and risk allowed by the organization.
So I am taking the leap towards
organizing and managing any my enterprise with considerable initiative and risk.
I am thinking of this career move as TeacherSquared (Teacher to the second power). I will be dedicating more and more of my time and energy towards building this enterprise. It is a bold leap and I am excited at what is ahead.