What Your Favourite Football Team Says About Your Entrepreneurship Style
That may be the longest article title we’ve ever decided on.
But this is perhaps the most important topic we have ever written about – perhaps ever will.
It concerns one of the most life-defining choices we make: what football club to support.
As players compete on the field, fans of opposing teams have showdowns in the stands, bars, and even at home among family members. Expect verbal insults at the minimum, and flying glass bottles occasionally.
How we choose the team we come to so passionately support says a lot about us, and as many of our readers are entrepreneurs, it carries over into how you approach running a business too!
And so, let’s see what your favourite football team says about the kind of entrepreneur you are.
Manchester United
Let’s be real here, Manchester United is the most popular team in the world. An entrepreneur who loves Manchester United doesn’t try to go against the crowd – in fact, they take joy in going WITH the crowd.
As an entrepreneur: Your passion is pure entrepreneurship, and the product or service is just a means to an end. Wherever you see high demand, you see value in establishing a business to meet it. The bigger the market size, the better. Others scoff at you for following the crowd, but you always shut them up when they see your annual profits.
Manchester City
Whenever you tell non-football fans your favourite club, they confuse it with Manchester United. However, you never tire of explaining yourself and why Manchester City is the better Manchester.
As an entrepreneur: You see big brands as more marketing than R&D. Popularity has gone to their head and they’ve gotten lazy. You take joy in competing against an established business by offering superior quality. Your circle of customers may not be the biggest, but they’re fiercely loyal.
Chelsea
You respect how Chelsea were the first ones to start the trend of billionaires taking over a club under Roman Abramovich. You try to explain to everyone that it’s just business at the end of the day – and it is.
As an entrepreneur: You understand that whatever your business goals, the best way to achieve them is to hire the best talent, and they don’t come cheap. You have zero problems with offering above the market rate for star performers because you know that by having them, your competitors don’t!
Liverpool
You have a tattoo saying ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ somewhere on your body and every time you enter a new environment, your number one priority is to find out who there are true believers and have turned to the light of Liverpool FC.
As an entrepreneur: You value partnerships and mutual respect not just among business partners, but your staff members. It’s important to you that there is a sense of camaraderie in the office, and it doesn’t just feel like a job – you initiate hangouts and treat everyone (except Manchester United fans).
Arsenal
We think you have to be a bit masochistic to be an Arsenal fan. To love one of the top teams that has never won a Champions League trophy and who last won the Premier League in 2004, Arsenal fans must enjoy suffering – in which case, are they really suffering at all?
As an entrepreneur: You are the most resilient person among the senior leadership. No matter what setbacks and obstacles come your way, you get through it, always believing that if you play your cards right the next time, you’ll have a better outcome. Others are exasperated but secretly inspired by your eternal optimism.
Paris-Saint-Germain
When you say your favourite club, most people confuse it with a brand of perfume. You love it when they don’t know though, after all, it takes a certain refinement of character to be in-the-know about such things.
As an entrepreneur: You live and breathe luxury goods. Anything you sell must have the words handcrafted, artisanal, boutique, or haute somewhere in the name. We’re not talking ordinary middle-class luxury here, we’re talking brands most people have never heard of and couldn’t even pronounce properly.
In fact, you’re not sure if you’re saying them right either, but nobody must know.
You know this is just a joke, right?
If football club preferences dictated how you ran a business, you’d only hire 11 staff members and fire people by blowing a whistle and giving them a red card.
If you do indeed do that, seek medical help.
The best entrepreneur is adaptable – they can change with any situation.
Today, that may mean a partnership; tomorrow it may mean launching a solo startup.
Speaking of entrepreneurship and launching startups, have you considered founding a startup yourself?
Now’s a great time, and we’ve got three examples of super successful businesses to inspire you.