I’m a multipreneur, are you?
(Yes that word exists!)
It’s pretty obvious when you stand back and think about it, but I didn’t think about it until recently. After doing a quick google search, I found this article by Cassie Witt from almost two years ago:
With the key line being:
A multipreneuer (sic) is an entrepreneur who is actively involved in several projects at once.
The key words here are “at once”. She goes on to discuss in more detail what makes a multipreneur, specifically “a person who has the inability to start and finish only one project at a time”. I interpret that as someone who is a “big picture” person who sees the visions of companies, starts them, and then brings others along to help create the vision while they are already off on the next vision.
I don’t fit that definition, however, what I think makes me unique is that my multipreneurial journey isn’t related to me starting multiple companies at once. I have one business (Array) that I have been running with my business partner since June 2017, but I am also a “co-founder” of my wife’s business (Vital Assurance — Health and Wellness coaching) which has been around since 2015, and I play a very active part in supporting both her and her business growth.
In the early days, the best support I could give her was generic “business” help (eg. setting up her income/expense spreadsheet), plus IT support (maintaining the website, preparing newsletters). More recently, due to my personal entrepreneurial journey, I’ve been able to expand my repertoire of knowledge and thus increase the help I could give her. At the same time, she’s been going through her own learning journey and has been able to offer back to me advice for my business.
Is it good or bad?
Like so many things, being a multipreneur can be both good and bad. In my case, the “good” is being able to travel along my entrepreneurial journey alongside my wife. We have been able to grow and share knowledge with each other which has benefited both of our businesses. The “bad” is that I must often commit time to one business over the other. This has a positive outcome, though, as my time management has now improved greatly!
No doubt there have been times where I thought things would be much easier if my wife’s career was more ‘stable’, and not requiring as much help from me. At the same time, however, I’ve loved being able to be a part of her journey as it’s helped us as a couple grow together and stay close through the hard period of starting a business. Many people talk about how their relationships suffer when they start a business because their partner just doesn’t “get” what they are going through. We are lucky that we get to share intimately what we are both going through, and that can only make us stronger (and more successful) as a couple.
What type of entrepreneur are you? Do you focus on one thing through to completion, or do you have so many ideas floating around that you start many businesses at once? Or are you like me, where you work on your business as well as your partner’s business?
