Let’s start off the New Year with the
Entrepreneur’s Credo, which is an excerpt from Common Sense, written in 1776 by Thomas Paine:
I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon, if I can.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build,
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence,
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence,
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master,
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect,
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations,
And to face the world boldly and say:
“This, with God’s help, I have done.”
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.