The Entrepreneur’s Hero’s Journey: Stage 2 — Call to Adventure

This blog is part of The Entrepreneur’s Hero’s Journey, a 12-month Entrepreneurship series in 2026 that explores business ownership through a Jungian lens, drawing on Joseph Campbell’s (1949/2008) Hero’s Journey and the twelve stages refined by Christopher Vogler (2007). Each post corresponds to one stage of this inner journey, offering a reflective map to help entrepreneurs recognize where they are and understand entrepreneurship as an evolving process of individuation.

12 Stages of the Entrepreneur's Hero's Journey

Departure (For the Aspiring)

• Stage 1 — Ordinary World

• Stage 2 — Call to Adventure

• Stage 3 — Refusal of the Call

• Stage 4 — Meeting the Mentor

• Stage 5 — Crossing the First Threshold

Initiation (For the Active)

• Stage 6 — Tests, Allies, and Enemies

• Stage 7 — Approach to the Innermost Cave

• Stage 8 — Ordeal

• Stage 9 — Reward

The Return (For the Established)

• Stage 10 — The Road Back

• Stage 11 — Resurrection

• Stage 12 — Returning with the Elixir

If Stage 1 — Ordinary World was about noticing where you stand, Stage 2 — Call to Adventure marks the moment when something begins to pull at you from the inside.

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From Awareness to Invitation

After the quiet observation of the Ordinary World, the journey does not suddenly demand action or bold decisions. Instead, it begins much more gently—with an invitation.

The Entrepreneur’s Hero’s Journey: Stage 2 ---- Call to Adventure emerges when what once felt familiar and sufficient starts to feel subtly misaligned. Nothing may be “wrong” on the surface, yet something inside you begins to question whether staying exactly where you are is still viable.

The Call often arrives as a persistent inner nudge, not a clear directive. You may not know what you are being called toward—only that remaining unchanged is beginning to feel increasingly constraining.

This stage is not about certainty or readiness. It is about recognition.

Defining the Call to Adventure

In Christopher Vogler’s framework, the Call to Adventure is the moment when the hero encounters a challenge, opportunity, or disruption that invites them beyond the known world and into unfamiliar territory.

For entrepreneurs, this Call is rarely dramatic or cinematic. It often shows up quietly, repeatedly, and without a clear roadmap. Rather than a single moment, it may feel like an ongoing internal conversation that becomes harder to ignore.

Many business owners describe the Call as a recurring question that lingers beneath daily responsibilities:

Is this still aligned with who I am becoming?

The Call does not require immediate action. What it asks for first is honesty.

What the Call Looks Like for Entrepreneurs

This is often the heart of the stage.

For entrepreneurs, the Call to Adventure rarely arrives as a single event. Instead, it tends to emerge through a combination of external circumstances and internal shifts that slowly gather psychological weight.

External Calls

These are changes in your outer world that disrupt equilibrium or reveal limitations:

• A layoff, promotion, burnout, or growing dissatisfaction within a stable role

• A business idea that keeps resurfacing despite repeated attempts to dismiss it

• Market shifts, organizational ceilings, or feedback that exposes the limits of your current structure

While external calls may appear practical on the surface, their emotional impact often runs deeper than logistics alone.

Internal Calls

Many entrepreneurs first experience the Call internally, long before anything changes externally:

• A persistent longing for autonomy, meaning, or creative expression

• A sense that earlier definitions of success no longer feel satisfying

• Feeling both energized and anxious when imagining a different path

This emotional ambivalence is common. Excitement and fear often arise together when growth is near.

Relational and Life-Based Calls

Sometimes the Call is shaped by life transitions rather than business conditions:

• Parenthood, caregiving responsibilities, immigration, or health changes

• Shifting values that no longer fit inherited or institutional expectations

These experiences are not distractions from your entrepreneurial path. They often clarify what truly matters, intensifying the Call rather than creating it.

Taken together, these signals are rarely random. They often indicate that psychological growth is asking for movement

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The Psychological Meaning of the Call

From a Jungian perspective, the Call to Adventure reflects a message from the psyche.

An unlived aspect of the self, a neglected value, or an emerging potential begins to seek expression. When this happens, the psyche generates tension—through curiosity, discomfort, or restlessness—to draw attention to what can no longer remain dormant.

This is why the Call often feels:

• Disruptive rather than convenient

• Unsettling rather than reassuring

• Compelling even when impractical

Importantly, ambivalence is not a sign of failure at this stage. Attraction and fear frequently arrive together when something meaningful is at stake.

Common Misunderstandings About the Call

Because this stage is subtle and emotionally complex, many entrepreneurs misunderstand what the Call requires of them. This often leads to unnecessary self-judgment or pressure.

Some common myths include:

• “If this were right, I would feel confident.”

• “I need a fully formed plan before acknowledging the Call.”

• “Others seem certain; something must be wrong with me.”

• “The Call means I have to quit everything immediately.”

In reality, the Call asks for attention, not commitment.

Reflective Prompts: Recognizing Your Call

Before responding, crossing thresholds, or making decisions, this stage invites listening rather than action.

You may reflect on the following questions:

• What keeps returning to your thoughts, even when you try to dismiss it?

• Where do you feel both alive and afraid when imagining change?

• If nothing shifted for the next five years, what would quietly ache?

You are not required to act on these questions yet. Naming the Call is enough for now.

Staying With the Call

Once the Call becomes visible, many entrepreneurs feel an immediate urge to do something. However, Stage 2 is not about execution.

It is about allowing the invitation to exist without rushing to resolve it. Fear, hesitation, and doubt often emerge here—not as obstacles, but as protectors of what matters most.

Staying with the Call means tolerating uncertainty long enough for clarity to develop.

This is why the journey frequently moves next into resistance.

Transition Toward Stage 3 — Refusal of the Call

If you notice yourself minimizing, rationalizing, or postponing the Call, know that this does not mean you misunderstood it.

It means you are human.

Stage 3 — Refusal of the Call explores how entrepreneurs wrestle with fear, responsibility, attachment, and the cost of change.

The Call does not shout. It waits. And once heard, it quietly reshapes what staying the same would require.

Next in the series: Stage 3 — Refusal of the Call

When the familiar no longer fits, the Call to Adventure begins—not as a leap, but as a quiet inner pull toward growth, meaning, and possibility.

Reference

Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. Pantheon Books. 

Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces. New World Library. 

Vogler, C. (2007). The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (3rd ed.). Michael Wiese Productions.