
Ask HN: How to describe myself as an entrepreneur without sounding cocky? - grimmfang
I&#x27;m currently working on a personal portfolio site but can&#x27;t decide what to describe myself as. At the moment, I&#x27;ve simply put Entrepreneur &amp; Web Architect. I know many of you have great personal sites and I would love some criticism.<p>If you do visit my projects github page, please note my design work is not yet finished.<p>grimmfang.github.io&#x2F;Portfolio<p>Thanks!
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davidkatz
Try describing what you do instead of labelling it. "I'm building an app that
helps blind folks read".

Personally, I'm allergic to the word 'Entrepreneur', whenever I hear it I
wince. Just say what you're building, plain and simple. I also wouldn't call
myself a Web Architect, I don't really understand what that means, it just
sounds fancy.

Also consider not giving yourself a title at all. If you really want a title,
I'd go with something humble like "a guy who builds stuff on the internet".

For reference, this is my personal site:
[http://www.davidkatz.me/](http://www.davidkatz.me/)

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hansy
This is good advice. Personally, I call myself a "founder" or "co-founder"
over "entrepreneur."

For in-person interactions, whenever someone asks me what I do, I always just
say I work for a tiny company that does XYZ. If they pursue and ask what I do
for the company, I say I bounce around doing a bunch of things (which founders
do).

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utunga
A writer is someone who writes, if not for a living, at least every day. It
doesn't matter if they are published yet. Similarly an entrepreneur is someone
who is actively building a business.. it doesn't matter if they are successful
yet.

You can, of course, put whatever the heck you like on your own home page. But
if it makes you twitch then maybe stick with web architect for now, and get
out there and start building your business. Once you feel you are building a
real business you'll be happy to use the word entrepreneur. I suggest you use
this as a motivation to get out there and do what you want to do. Let the
phrasing on the portfolio/profile site look after itself.

In my mind building a business means more than just having a tax vehicle
around your own personal consultation services. A consultation services
business probably has other employees. Once you are building a business that
is designed to actually create and sell something (whether it be service or
product) then be proud to use the word entrepreneur. Till then, stick it up on
the fridge as a goal !

\--- signed, someone who alternates between writing 'Entrepreneur' and
'Programmer' on the immigration forms each time I travel, depending on whether
I'm currently actively building a startup or just living off my consultation
services.

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btian
Just describe what you do. Web designer / front-end programmer etc.

Please don't call yourself web architect unless you're involved in W3C
standards...

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mtrimpe
If it's for a portfolio then you're probably going to work for people.

What are you going to be doing for them? How are you going to add value to
their business?

If they wanted that value and were actively looking; what job titles would
they put into Google?

That's what you want to describe yourself as on a portfolio site.

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ASquare
Maybe this talk will also help you figure out what to call yourself - aka
Start With Why:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE)

