RJTT Connecticut

Entrepreneurship Then and Now

When I was growing up, being an entrepreneur meant that you started a construction company, a corner store or a consulting company. It also meant that you needed to be physically close to your potential customers.

After all, you can’t deliver a new patio through the internet and your part-time bookkeeping clients often wanted to see you in-person. So the place you chose to live and work mattered quite a bit.

Over the years, people got more comfortable with videoconferencing, our phones often have faster Internet connections than our homes used to have and remote work has become more acceptable.

And that’s the difference between entrepreneurship back then and now.

It used to be that place mattered. Now all that matters is whether you make something your customer wants — because they probably don’t care where you chose to live.

That construction company still needs to be 1-2 hours from their customers but going on-site for an estimate isn’t needed 100% of the time.

The corner store still needs to be, well, on the corner. But maybe adding things like Apple Pay makes it even more convenient for someone to drop in for a quick stop.

The consulting company that offers part-time bookkeeping still might want to be close to a major highway or airport but it’s not required anymore.

The point is that your success isn’t tightly tied to wherever you chose to live anymore. And the success of your community isn’t tightly tied to whatever large employers they manage to bring to town.

It’s cheaper than ever to be an entrepreneur now. And do it from wherever you want. As long as you know how to use technology and the Internet well.


Also published on Medium.