Entrepreneurial Identity: Why your environment determines whether you succeed as a founder

Category: Entrepreneurship & Mindset | Author: Daniel Schäfer | Reading time: 7 min.

If you want to become self-employed, you cannot avoid one question: Am I personally suited to become an entrepreneur? After more than 25 years, over 40 of my own start-ups, and supporting almost 4,000 entrepreneurs, I know: The answer depends less on your abilities – and more on your identity and the beliefs that have shaped you up to now.

Contents

1. Where does your identity come from?
2. The Baking Tin Theory: How your environment shapes you
3. Three contexts – three completely different life paths
4. Your identity is not set in stone
5. Why you need to change your circle
6. The first step: Learning to think bigger
7. Conclusion and next steps

Where does your identity come from?

Scientists now agree: Your identity is a mix of two sources. Firstly, what you have inherited genetically from your family of origin. Secondly – and this is the decisive part – the formative influences of your environment: family, friends, school, culture, clubs, and all the people who have actively played a role in your life.

These two factors together shape your personality, your beliefs, and thus your idea of what is possible for you – and what is not.

The key thought: Your current reality is the product of your past influences. Those who understand this also realise: The future can be shaped.

The Baking Tin Theory: How your environment shapes you

Imagine your identity as a yeast dough – and your environment as a baking tin. The dough rises exactly as the tin allows. Not bigger, not different. In just the same way, you have grown into the baking tin that your family system has provided for you up to now.

In psychology, this framework is called the frame of reference – your personal map of the world. The problem: your map is not the world. It is only what you have seen and learned so far.

If you grew up in an environment where self-employment is considered dangerous, success unlikely, and security the highest good, you carry exactly this mould within you – often without realising it.

Three contexts – three completely different life paths

In my own biography, I experienced all three types of formative contexts at the same time:

Context 1 – The Warning: My grandparents said: “Never become self-employed. It’s dangerous. Better to become a civil servant – then you’ll have a secure pension.” A mould that puts security above all else and sees risk as a threat.

Context 2 – The Career Path: Many executives from my student fraternity said: “Become a board member or manager – then you can earn a lot of money.” The reality: many of them passed away shortly after retirement, as a life full of stress had worn them down.

Context 3 – The Role Model: My parents showed me that self-employment means freedom and potential – but also comes at a price. This mould allowed me to think bigger.

Which of these three contexts has shaped you?

Your identity is not set in stone

Here is the key message of this article: your identity can be changed. It is freely selectable and shapeable – if you are willing to question your existing beliefs.

Beliefs function like viruses. You pick them up from your environment – often unconsciously, often unintentionally. And just as you can catch a virus, you can also replace it with something stronger.

Remember: 30 years ago, it was unimaginable for most people to make a call with a wireless phone. 20 years ago, hardly anyone believed that AI would one day generate images and videos. Today, all of this is normal. Your current mental boundaries are just as relative – and just as surmountable.

Important: Your current environment shapes you for the next 5 to 10 years. Who you are in ten years is largely determined by whom you spend your time with today.

Why you need to change your circle

If you want to think bigger, you need people who already think bigger. This is not a theory – this is psychology.

People who think more freely, have a broader frame of reference, and are willing to question their own limits, pass this mindset on to those around them. Just as small-minded thinking is contagious, so is a growth mindset.

This is why so many successful entrepreneurs completely change their context – move to a big city, go to Silicon Valley, build new networks. Not because their hometown was bad, but because they needed people who live bigger, think bigger, and achieve bigger results.

Your task is not to deny your origins. It is about valuing what your background has given you – and at the same time deciding that you want to discover a new world for yourself.

The first step: Learning to think bigger

What does this mean in concrete terms for you as a prospective entrepreneur?

Question your beliefs. Which beliefs about money, risk, success and self-employment have you adopted from your environment – without ever consciously choosing them?

Find new role models. People who are already living what you envision. Not to copy them, but to expand your frame of reference.

Change your circle. Seek out groups, associations, and networks where people think bigger, act bigger, and are willing to challenge conventions.

Take action despite uncertainty. Thinking bigger does not mean having all the answers. It means giving more space to belief in what is possible than to fear of failure.

Note: The change you want to see externally must first begin within yourself. Inside before outside – that is the principle.

Conclusion: Your identity is your most important asset.

No business plan in the world will help you if you do not truly believe you can succeed. And no lack of qualifications, difficult background, or small network can hold you back in the long run if you are willing to expand your frame of reference.

Identity is not destiny. It is a decision – one you can make anew every day.

If you need support – both in building your entrepreneurial identity and in the practical implementation of your business idea with a bank-ready business plan and the right financing – then a free initial consultation is the right first step.

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