Plenty of writers believe that creative people are terrible business people, but that is not true. Learning to be an entrepreneur is just like learning to write. You read, study and practice to develop the skills to be good at not just writing books, but handling the business skills to be a financially successful author. This involves learning to handle your business finances, how to market your books even if you work with a traditional publisher and how to connect with your readers. You have to learn to create a strategy, monitor your progress and how to network with other writers so you can help each other succeed.

When you wrote your first story, you were not a great writer. Why would you think that when you start your first writing business that you would be fantastic? If you are willing to learn and use the business skills you need to market and sell your books, you can be a great entrepreneur. That is why Business Books for Writers teach business skills to writers and why the newspaper is called The Writing Entrepreneur. Anyone who makes their living as a writer is an entrepreneur. Anyone who wants to write full time must acquire the skills needed to be a great entrepreneur.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because both share a lot of the same characteristics. Let’s look at just a few:

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they know how to tell great stories.

Both writers and entrepreneurs have to be able to tell a story in a way that captivates their reader. Writers do this to sell books. Entrepreneurs do this to sell their ideas or product or to get people to invest in their ideas. Either way, entrepreneurs and writers have to know how to tell a story so well that people want to buy from them.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they are creative.

Writers must come up with creative solutions to their characters’ problems or their stories are predictable and boring. Great entrepreneurs succeed through constant innovation. (Note: great entrepreneurs do not try to sell people things they don’t need. That is a myth. Business people who believe this myth go bankrupt.) Writers come up with creative solutions to conflicts and problems their characters encounter. Entrepreneurs must be innovative or they lose their customers.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they draw on their unique background and knowledge to develop what people want to buy.

Great writers don’t create to what is selling now but draw on their unique experiences and expertise to create books that tell stories in ways their fans want to read. Great entrepreneurs draw on their background to produce products or services that people have never seen before or to improve on previous ideas.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they like to learn new things and can teach themselves new skills.

Writers and entrepreneurs are relentless in always working to get better. Writers want to write faster. They want to learn to pull the reader so deep into their story that the reader believes the world described by the author. They take courses on how to develop more realistic characters, how to plot, how to write great hooks. They go to conferences to learn from the best writers. And they meet with fellow writers to get feedback on their ideas and their books. Entrepreneurs, like writers, are always taking classes. They go to conferences and work consistently to produce an improved product to better meet their customer’s needs.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they are willing to take risks to achieve their goals.

You have to be willing to take risks to leave a salary job and work full-time for yourself. Whether you are a writer or an entrepreneur if you earn your living by your own efforts, you are a risk taker. Great writers and entrepreneurs work hard to minimize risks and increase the odds of meeting their goals.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they don’t like to work for someone else.

Let’s face it most writers don’t like to be told what to do in their work. They prefer to work on their own, creating their stories according to their vision. Entrepreneurs go out on their own because they are creative and have ideas that large companies don’t want to bother exploring. Entrepreneurs love the opportunity to realize their vision.

Writers make great entrepreneurs because they are always looking to get better at what they do.

You don’t achieve success as a writer or entrepreneur if you are not continuously improving your craft and your skills. This drive to always improve is motivates writers and entrepreneurs.

Let’s face it writers today must be entrepreneurs. The good news is we can be great entrepreneurs with classes, hard work and practice.

Many of us grew up believing that writers don’t make great entrepreneurs. If you embrace this myth, you will convince yourself that you aren’t good at business and you won’t work to become a great entrepreneur.

A more dangerous myth is if you work to be a good businessperson then your art will suffer. Writers should see the fallacy here. Does working to be a better writer make you a worse writer? No. We all have to study and practice to become great writers.

The reality is if you are a writer, you have all the characteristics required to be a great entrepreneur, but learning to be good at business is just like learning to be a good writer. Ignore those who tell you that you cannot be a great entrepreneur.

Embrace the fact that writers make great entrepreneurs and start working on improving your business knowledge and skills today.

 

Don’t believe great writers make great entrepreneurs? Read “10 Writers Who Turned Books Into Empires.”

Are you looking to improve your entrepreneurial skills? Business Books For Writers wants to help.

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