I’ve been meaning to write this post for quite some time, but now that Problogger Darren Rowse has posted up his latest Group Writing Project I thought I’d put fingers to keyboard and start typing. What’s more exciting is that there are $1800 worth of prizes to be won in this project, so hopefully if I have a bit of luck on my side I could get a nice kick out of this post! Anyway, here it is and sorry if the title is a bit on the abusive side - there was no other way to get the message across - and anyway, most readers like a catchy opening!
Entrepreneurs are constantly wanting to move forward - believe me I know the feeling. I hate staying in the same position and am always looking for new ways in which to progress with my projects whether they be on the internet or in “real life”. You might call entrepreneurs a little shortly strung (in reality patience is key), but nevertheless here are ways to annoy an entrepreneur:
1) Cut off the broadband: I can’t think of anything worse than not being able to access the internet. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to have any international networking and therefore I would have to start a proper offline business. And let’s face it, these can be irritating at the best of times, and can be costly. And don’t mention dial-up to any internet savvy person (just speaking about it sends shivers up my spine!)
2) Give ‘em a 9 to 5: Oh no what will they do without their morning lie in? Unlike the majority of the working population, entrepreneurs are able to have a reasonably flexible working schedule. So when they have to set an alarm to wake up early, tempers will be lost!
3) The dreaded boss: One of the main entrepreneurial benefits is the BMOB (Be My Own Boss). Once you take that away, the entrepreneur is left working under a gruelling dictator who sets your own lunch breaks and gives you special doggy treat bonus packages if you work extra hard.
4) Cell phone destruction: The cell phone (that’s a mobile for those who speak proper English!) is used by an active entrepreneur nearly 24/7. Whether they’re involving themselves in a business deal, chatting to their designer about new prospects, or giving their mothers laundry instructions, without a mobile telecommunicator an entrepreneur becomes a standard Joe who has no communication with anyone but those within a 100 metre radius. And that can’t be too good if you’re wanting global recognition?
5) Noise, noise, noise: Finally, the surest way to piss me off is to continually talk around me or have noises in the background whenever Im trying to do an important piece of work. As a general rule of thumb, I never have music on when I work, and I try and close all doors to shield out the family. Blasting heavy beats in my face, sister-brother bickering and non-peace will be sure to drive me over the edge.
If you have any more points which irritate the heavens out of you as an entrepreneur, then leave a comment so that everyone can see - I really want this to be a long list of all the stuff that makes us mad. Also don’t forget to Digg this, if you thought it was good!
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28 responses so far ↓
1 Anthony // Sep 20, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I can relate to #1, 4 & 5. But…
2. I don’t mind getting up early - it’s a part of business. If you’re an entrepreneur - especially B2B - you just have to do it. You have to operate similar hours as the rest of the world, otherwise, you’ll never be able to communicate with anybody.
3. Entrepreneurs are their own bosses to an extent. But it’s important to remember who your real boss is:
http://mindpetals.com/blog/2006/08/newsflash-entrepreneurs-have-bosses-too/
If you hate working for a boss, then you won’t like serving clients either; they can be even more demanding than most bosses.
2 adnan // Sep 21, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Thanks for your comments Anthony,
In regards to No. 2. I suppose different people have different routines. If you like to wake up early in the morning then thats great, especially if you increase productivity. But for me, mornings just don’t go and I’d rather just go back to sleep than start the day in a daze. Each to their own though!
And with 3. I was really referring to entrepreneurs who have had memories of office experiences where they did have bosses breathing down their necks. While the customers and clients do dictate what goes, there is a decrease in tension between the 2 parties and as such, the clients feel less like bosses and more like contacts.
But thanks anyway for that link as well it was a great read - and thanks for your insightful comment!
3 How To Project - Final Submissions // Sep 22, 2006 at 12:44 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
4 Whimspiration // Sep 22, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Oh I can so relate to #5 and #1! Heck, those happened to me recently (or connstantly in the case of #5).
I made a how to post as well. I’d love to know what you think about it. *smile*
5 Working at Home on the Internet // Sep 22, 2006 at 7:05 pm
[...] 65. 5 Ways To Piss Off An Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
6 Jersey Girl // Sep 22, 2006 at 7:30 pm
When I got married, I went from cable modem to dial up….until i pleaded and begged and pleaded to have my cable modem access back. That was one way to piss off a newly married woman! LOL Dial-up!
7 MamaDuck // Sep 23, 2006 at 2:27 am
LOL. Some of these will change as you have small children running around - Lil’ Duck is always running around, screaming, interrupting, “helping” me type, etc. Our how-to is up as well if you’d like to check it out!!
8 How to do.. a lot of things · Thrive Web Marketing // Sep 23, 2006 at 5:18 am
[...] 5 ways to piss off an entrepreneur [...]
9 Change your thoughts » Blog Archive » How to posts - loads of them // Sep 23, 2006 at 7:16 am
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
10 adnan // Sep 23, 2006 at 12:44 pm
Thanks again for your great comments!
Whimspiration - lol yeah noise just drives me round the bend, I can never get anything done with those types of distractions. And nice blog you have there, keep up the consistent writing. Out of interest, have you considered moving to Wordpress? Its a lot more agile and easier to alter (and better than Blogger, I used to have an account there as well!)
Jersey Girl -
Dial up sucks! I don’t know how I managed to cope with it!
MamaDuck - yeah my brother acts like that sometimes (even though he’s a teenager), always making noise! Wow I love your blog template, very original. And excellent content and nice How-To Post. Another question - do you mind sharing with us your experiences with TLA? Do you make a lot with them?
Thanks again guys, and to the people who linked to this post!
11 Questallia » Problogger’s ‘How to’ Group Writing Project List // Sep 23, 2006 at 2:07 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
12 MamaDuck // Sep 23, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Well, thank you! I’m always redoing and tweaking the blog design, the hard thing is getting it to match the business side. TLA is slow at first, it took a bit to be approved, then a bit before people actually started buying links - this being into the 3rd month now, I’m finally getting a nice check from them at the end of the month, so it isn’t a lot right away, but it adds up eventually, just like Google ads. Sign up thru the link on top of my TLAs at the top of my sidebar if you don’t have an account or a referral person yet ;).
13 Mark Choon » The Biggest, really humongous, ‘How To’ list ever assembled in 4 days! // Sep 23, 2006 at 3:30 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
14 freshblogger.com » Blog Archive » Another round of How Tos from Problogger’s Group Writing Contest: Fresh Ideas for Making Money with Blogging and Writing // Sep 23, 2006 at 3:58 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
15 adnan // Sep 23, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Yeah at the moment Im waiting to be approved by TLA. Im waiting for the next Google PR update which should be soon, and then I’ll be in with this site. Hopefully then I can get some good money every month. I’ve already got a TLA account but thanks anyway for inviting me!
With Adsense, I’ve still not reached the $100 payout level yet and I’ve been blogging here for 3 months. But when I do get the cheque it will feel so good! Unfortunately it doesn’t add up to much when you convert back to British pounds.
Thanks for getting back Mamaduck
16 Look After Your Customers - And They’ll Look After You! at Blogtrepreneur | Entrepreneur Blog // Sep 23, 2006 at 5:18 pm
[...] First up as a little update, I would like to thank all those who linked to me in this week’s Group Writing Project on Problogger. I wrote a post called 5 Ways To Piss Off An Entrepreneur which was received very well. In total I had new commenters which I always love, and a whole load of pingbacks (7 in all). I noticed that quite a lot of people posted the whole list of 343 entries to their blogs, but I won’t do that! [...]
17 Ask blushgirl - Romance Advice, Tips and Dating Site Reviews » Blog Archive » Day 4 How-To Articles - Final // Sep 25, 2006 at 11:37 am
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
18 David // Sep 25, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Noise, Noise, Noise!!! Give me space to think!
19 Chewing Pencils: Helping you make money from drawing cartoons! // Sep 25, 2006 at 2:11 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
20 Kristonia Ink! » Full List of ProBlogger How To Contest Submissions // Sep 26, 2006 at 1:45 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
21 Cell Phone Know How » 343 How To Posts // Sep 26, 2006 at 5:40 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Piss off an Entrepreneur by Adnan [...]
22 BloodhoundBlog | The weblog of BloodhoundRealty.com in Phoenix, Arizona // Sep 26, 2006 at 10:59 pm
[...] From the Problogger ‘How To…’ Group Writing Project, blogtrepreneur brings us “5 Ways To Piss Off An Entrepreneur”: 1) Cut off the broadband: I can’t think of anything worse than not being able to access the internet. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to have any international networking and therefore I would have to start a proper offline business. And let’s face it, these can be irritating at the best of times, and can be costly. And don’t mention dial-up to any internet savvy person (just speaking about it sends shivers up my spine!) [...]
23 Ray Dotson // Sep 27, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Adnan, I know what you mean! I have a bunch of small children and the noise never stops.
Also, I was reading this post on my laptop last night as I watched my son’t (american) football practice. I’d loaded up a few articles I wanted to catch up on beforehand, but I had no internet connection at all. I was itching to check out some links and write some comments!
I also remember the days of the 2400 baud modems. Yes, it sucked, but the internet was an amazing thing to us dinosaurs who grew up without it!
24 MamaDuck // Sep 29, 2006 at 2:55 pm
“Do you think the blog helps with the business side? Or did you create the business side as a result of the blog?”
Well, they were seperate at first, actually, then I decided to put the business on the blog domain. It goes both ways - I get business from blog readers, and blog readers from the business. It’s a nice thing since they are relevant to each other, helps the cross-promoting ;).
Sorry I’m so late to get back here, crazy house ;).
25 adnan // Sep 30, 2006 at 6:06 pm
Lol no problem MamaDuck (btw what actually is your real name because Im assuming its not MamaDuck!)
Thats quite a good method you’ve got there. Which came first? Business or blog?
David -
Ray - Haha yeah an internet connection really is a must. If I go to uni, Im definitely going to have to buy a broadband connection, I just couldn’t survive not being connected to the world! I suppose when Im older, there will be new gadgets/technology that even I won’t be able to keep up with!
Thanks for commenting guys
26 How Many Comments Can I Get On This Post? at Blogtrepreneur | Entrepreneur Blog // Nov 28, 2006 at 11:03 pm
[...] Today I want to do a little experiment. How many comments can I get on this one single post? So far throughout my whole blogging history, my best performing article has been “5 Ways To Piss Off An Entrepreneur“. This netted me 12 comments and 13 trackbacks thanks to Problogger’s Group Writing Project. [...]
27 Matt Jones // Apr 21, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Hey great post,
I totally am with you on 1,2 and 3, but I hardly ever use my mobile (or the house phone) for blogging/developing my website. As for silence, I dont like people talking around me (as I can’t help but listen) but a bit of quiet music never went amiss.
Matt Jones
28 Uzair // Apr 2, 2008 at 1:44 am
Most of the times broadband becomes an headache. We end up checking mail several times a day which doesn’t happen with dial-up.
(Oops I made something run your spine, sorry)
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