7 Things To Know Before Dating an Entrepreneur

There is tons of information, tips and advice on the market for entrepreneurs but rarely do you find anyone “tipping” those who date, or would like to, date them. The simple truth is entrepreneurs live personal lives that are made for reality shows. Think about the true back story to contestants on Shark Tank or The Apprentice.  Someone would make a fortune producing a show called “Significant Others”, “Entrepreneur Mates” or “Love and Entrepreneurship”. (Please send me my check(s)). The life of an entrepreneur can be a bipolar one-one filled with peaks and valleys and feast and famine. Despite this being the case, people still chase this life and even more interesting, people chase to date the people who chase this life. Why is this? It’s because of that oasis people see in the vision. They see a life of prosperity, power and freedom. But this can come at a cost. Sometimes that cost is relationship strain.

They say opposites attract. So let’s look at what entrepreneurs deal with and how they think to see if you can really endure a life with one. There are key behaviors and activities they embrace, that you, on the other hand, may not. Let’s examine 7 of them:

1.  Weird schedules – Entrepreneurs, especially new ones who are serious, suffer from “Inconsistent Availability”. They never know when they can meet a familial (or personal) obligation because they are regularly available for clients and/or employees.

2.  Never clocking out – Many great ideas are born organically. Many entrepreneurs would tell you that their entrepreneurial hat is always on. When you see food on a menu at dinner, they see an opportunity to pitch an advertising idea to the restaurant’s manager.

3.  Strange acquaintances – In order to have something you never had, you must do something you’ve never, which includes making new acquaintances, whether male or female. Don’t try to pin down an entrepreneur to only having meetings, calls or doing business with the same sex. Entrepreneurs require freedom in this arena so they can properly grow their business without being so guarded from exploring opportunities with everyone.

4.  Odd hours – It’s not strange for an entrepreneur to jump up out of a sleep and start working at 3 o’clock in the morning. (I am actually writing this at 4:33 a.m.) It’s also not strange for them to be taking a power nap at 3 in the afternoon. Entrepreneurs with entrepreneur friends know it is quite normal for them to miss a phone call in the middle of the day and answer one in the middle of the night.

5.  Sporadic cash flow – Entrepreneurs won’t always have it like that, even when they do. Smart entrepreneurs spend conservatively in their personal lives to keep the windows of opportunities open in their business endeavors.

6.  Missed events – I remember being pressured to schedule traveling to visit family for Thanksgiving one year five states away. I was close to closing a huge business deal that required me to stay local. They couldn’t understand my delay in answering. I refused to give an answer until that deal closed. My family wound up closing their invite before I could close it.

7.  Travel – This is perhaps the largest challenge. The world of globalization, coupled with cheaper airline tickets, has created greater opportunities for entrepreneurs but this opportunity has estranged some relationships.

To someone on the outside looking in, entrepreneurship should be a walk in the park from the onset, but it’s not. It requires a level of commitment that many people in relationships can’t handle. You may view leisure as fun, while the entrepreneur view work as fun. They are not weird workaholics, they are living their passion and are actually finding fulfillment in what you see as work.

You simply must give them room to fulfill and know when to get close to them to support, what they view as their destiny. Some people make the mistake in feeling they will change the entrepreneur’s lifestyle once they get them to fall in love. Be honest so you don’t waste each other’s time and ask yourself, Can you handle dating one without them changing? Clocking out from a job is the norm. Clocking out from their dream, they see, as insane. These are the perspectives. Asking an entrepreneur to distance from these behaviors could lead to resentment, estrangement, bitterness or a clocking out of the relationship.