Are You a Chronic Sufferer of E.D.

Are you a chronic sufferer of ED. If so, it’s OK, you can talk about it in public now. You shouldn’t be embarrassed. Many people suffer from the same affliction. Of course, I am talking about Entrepreneur Disorder.

It wasn’t until recently that many studies have been conducted about entrepreneurs, or the almost debilitating disorder that oftentimes accompanies the personality traits. Now, thanks to a few brave entrepreneurs who weren’t afraid to have their private lives exposed to the public, we now know a lot more about both the individual and the disorder.

Let’s take a look at some of the personality traits of a successful “self-starter” businessperson, as well as the accompanying symptoms of the disorder.

Discipline
Entrepreneurs typically don’t do well in a highly structured environment. This means that they don’t really enjoy having somebody breathing down their neck all the time.

One symptom of E.D. that corresponds to this trait is irritability towards supervisors. This symptom is easy to spot, even by an untrained eye. If you ever see a co-worker planning the death of a superior, or speaking incoherently about torture techniques, don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. E.D. is commonly misdiagnosed as schizophrenia and may also be mistreated with anger management techniques.

Confidence
Most entrepreneurs are extremely confident in their abilities. This means that they truly believe they can do anything. This not only includes those realistic activities such as managing a company or efficiently controlling costs, but it also includes flying, or even bringing the dead back to life. Lee Iacocca’s work with Chrysler is a good example of that.

Symptoms of E.D. that are related to Confidence may include an unusually swollen head and unbearable arrogance. Entrepreneurs suffering from this symptom are easy to spot in a crowd. They are the ones you see singing at the top of their lungs, “Anything you can do I can do better” from the Broadway play, Annie Get Your Gun.

E.D. is rarely ever diagnosed from this symptom alone because many non-entrepreneurs suffer from this symptom also.

Weak Interpersonal Relationships
Entrepreneurs tend to care about the accomplishments of a person more than they care about that person’s feelings. An entrepreneur could be accused of reducing all business relationships to a few simple questions: What have you done for me? What have you done for me lately? What will you do for me in the future?

Symptoms of E.D. related to this trait may include a lack of friends and excessive time alone. I am sure that many psychiatrists have misdiagnosed their patients with depression when they were really only blossoming entrepreneurs suffering from advanced symptoms of E.D. Just imagine if Ludwig von Beethoven’s doctors had been aware of E.D., we could be going to the golden V (Von Beethoven's) eating a Big Von, fries and a shake. The world will never know.


This quasi-fictitious disorder is somewhat serious and could be spread by human contact. Proper treatment is only a phone call away.

At FranMan, we work with entrepreneurs every day. Our staff members have been trained to work with entrepreneurs in their own environment. We nurture their traits and we have learned how to redirect those energies into more productive behaviors.

If you are, or if you know of anybody suffering from one or more of these symptoms, please call FranMan immediately at 214-207-2035. Operators will be standing by.