You might be thinking of going down this road, or perhaps you have already started your journey into entrepreneurship, either way it is important that you know what you are in for on this ride. Back in the day, when ‘entrepreneur’ wasn’t such a trendy buzzword we would simply call someone a business woman or business man, but the meaning has definitely gone slightly off the mark since then.
There are a lot of people calling themselves entrepreneurs these days, but what they are doing or how they are doing it does not portray entrepreneurship. For example ‘serial entrepreneurs’ who have just had a string of failed launches, or entrepreneurs with zero equity in their company. I fail to understand how these people identify as entrepreneurs when they are either just a.) doing bad business or b.) don’t own any of the business they are supposedly starting.
This is evidence that there are those that think entrepreneurship is a job or career, rather than starting a business that solves problems. How I see entrepreneurship is this: it’s all about taking risks and the two most important things for a good entrepreneur is to be perseverant and able to adapt quickly to change. Is the life of an entrepreneur for you?>>
Knowing when you’re ready for the plunge
How do you know that you’re ready to be an entrepreneur? It comes down to whether you want it badly enough; are you asking yourself ‘If I never give this a chance, will I be happy with myself, my life, and my choices?’. If you ask that more often than ‘What if it fails?’ then you’re already halfway to launch.
You also need to be prepared for taking a few risks, putting your life on hold indefinitely, and even giving up some luxuries while you turn your dream into a reality. It will mean putting hard and fast milestones or targets in place to ensure that you don’t work endlessly and get nowhere. If you get stuck along the way consider mentorship. More on how mentorship helps you grow your business>>
Making a success of it: Being persistent and adaptable
Being an entrepreneur requires you to be someone that never gives up; you will need to sell your idea, your dream, to everybody else. You will also most likely be doing a lot of this without many resources, such as a team or fancy presentations. Which means you will also have to assume a few roles in your new business, including sales. You will also need to learn to hustle and ask for things for free, a valuable skill to learn! Learn about the role and power of ‘asking’ in business>>
Most of your success is going to depend largely on how flexible you can be. You may learn that when you put your product to market that the market responds with what it really needs. In order to stay relevant and competitive you will need to change your own mind and do things differently to how you envisioned it.
If you can master these basics of being an entrepreneur, then you and your business will go far together.