If you can see it, you can be it

The Hotpot | By Lisanne

1.1

We use the word “idol,” but what we really mean is permission.

For a long time, the narrative of the entrepreneur felt fixed.
It was the “jack-ass” model I grew up watching: extroverted, loud, fueled by caffeine and a lack of sleep. If you didn’t fit that specific mold with an ego to match, the door felt locked. You were looking through a window at a club you weren’t invited to join.

But then, you see someone who breaks the pattern.

In my teens, it was Shakira. Big, curly, and un-filed hair. Her big curly hair showed me that it was cool to have big hair. It said: You don’t have to shrink to be seen.

Representation is a mirror, not a window.

When we see an entrepreneur who is quiet, thoughtful, or unconventional, the “status quo” loses its grip. We realize that the “standard” was just a story we were told—and we are allowed to write a better one.

Idols show us that it can be done.
They proof to us that there is a different way of doing things.

The “jack-ass” model is about power over others. The new model is about people like us doing things like this.

If you can see it, you can be it. But more importantly, once you see it, you no longer need anyone’s permission to start.

Except your own.