Doerpreneur or thinkepreneur?

Do you consider yourself to be a doer or a thinker? Doers concentrate on the day to day operational aspects of a business, they often concentrate on working on their to do lists, micromanaging ever aspect of the business and keeping control of every minute detail.

On the other hand thinkers delegate, they don’t concern themselves with every minor detail and most importantly they think.

Now I’m not saying that doers don’t think, or that doers aren’t a necessary element to any businesses success. If it wasn’t for those with the “doer” mentality nothing would get done. The thinking entrepreneur is one that steps away from the day to day running of the business and dedicates time to strategy and planning.

I’m sure we can all think of at least one business owner we know who is so engrossed in the running of the company that they seem to at best be standing still, this treadmill effect comes from the need for that business owner to be consulted on every minute detail and the business owners own need to be in control.

Before the whole coffee phenomenon, there were many “doers” running small coffee shops. One small coffee shop owner in Seattle had that “thinker” mindset, he understood the need to step back to think about the bigger picture, the strategy behind what they were doing. This entrepreneur built what is today the global institution known as Starbucks.

What I am saying is that the founder, the guy running the business should have this thinker mindset. Of course the doer aspect shouldn’t be neglected but the entrepreneur needs to be constantly thinking about strategy and not be concerned about releasing a little decision making control to employees.

So can an entrepreneur be both a doer and a thinker? I’d say this is a must but entrepreneurs should consider setting aside at least one full day to work on strategy and business development in every working week if not more. If this means delegating decision making power to an employee then you really should think about doing this.

Ultimately it should be your goal to be 100% strategy and business development, let others run the business for you, you have the entrepreneurial spirit, the drive to succeed, surely your energies should be applied where they will be most effective, in driving business growth.