Over the past 15 years, I have received several interns and students per year. In addition to the above, I have spent the past five years mentoring startup founders.

Here is what I see over and over again. So many of them are just lost. And the best description I can give them is “Lostpreneurs”. Have I coined a new term? Don’t think so, but I haven’t found much content on it.

Back to the subject matter LostPreneurs.

These students, interns, and entrepreneurs are either school dropouts, on vocational training, university training, university graduates looking for a career, and finally, some are laid-off staff looking for something new.

The ones who are college dropouts and on vocational training sometimes arrive with low self-esteem. They have been told they are not worth it, they have been pushed aside and given bread crumbs, instead of a sandwich and they arrive without knowing that they are capable of doing something really good. Their passion has been killed and destroyed and they have been forced into choosing a vocational path which was the only option left.

They arrive with little motivation.
They have no vision.
They have little plans or desires.

The only desire is to be rich, earn lots of money, and buy a big house and several cars.

Their passion and ideas are skewed by the Unicorn stories. The end “money result” is the only objective.

The same goes for many of those who are now looking for something new to do after years of having worked as an employee.

This is the point of LostPreneurship. To move from this point, to actually understand entrepreneurship and become an entrepreneur is a journey that many don’t make.

These are the LostPreneurs who are looking for something but don’t know what it is.

A few days ago, my new intern student arrived. He was supposed to start programming. I had spoken to him prior to his arrival but as I opened up my laptop to start passing on his first assignments I realized he hasn’t got a clue what I am talking about. Server! FTP! PHP!

You should have seen my face and of course his.

Mine was a surprise that how can he not know the basics?
And his was of an embarrassment and loss.

I closed my laptop and asked him what he had done in the past two years of school. The answer was: “Nothing”. Nothing in two years.

They all talk about the exit, what they want to have, the big house, cars, and so on, but there is no effort or path on how to get there.

I don’t blame them.

I blame our society, schools, parents, and including myself.

Every year I find people who are just simply lost. They are following a path because they are lost. They haven’t got a clue where they are going, and why they are going on that path. They walk along that path simply because someone told them the path they wanted to go on is not available. They are not capable of doing it, it is not for them, and ….

Every year, I work with these LostPreneurs to help them find their path. To help them find their passion and vision. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail. I try my best.

Are you a LostPreneur?

Are you following a path that you are not sure about?

Are you trying to find what you should be doing?

Do you have a dream that has been suppressed and you have written it off?

Do you have an outrageous dream that seems impossible to accomplish?

Whatever it is. Unless you believe in yourself, unless you make a plan, unless you focus on a clear vision, it will be difficult to achieve.