That word “Entrepreneur”. One of the most misused and misunderstood words in the English dictionary. Everyone wants to be it – the guy who against all odds defiled the status quo and emerged victoriously. Forgetting that if you want to be something, you have got to first understand what it really is.
Who is an entrepreneur? That’s the first and most important question to answer and then you can decide whether or not you want to leave your safe haven and into a world of risks and uncertainty.
An entrepreneur isn’t a self-employed individual. So many people claim to be entrepreneurs but are just people with no bosses working for themselves. Entrepreneurs aren’t people who are just all for profit even if it adversely affects the well-being of the people. No, entrepreneurship is beyond that. It is being able to transform an idea not just to fill your pockets but changing lives with the solution you provide.
According to Investopedia.com, an entrepreneur is someone who, 1) rather than working as an employee, 2) Founds and runs a business, assuming all the risks and rewards of the venture. The entrepreneur is 3) Commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or procedures.
I emboldened some parts of that definition for a reason – those are very important requirements to fulfill if you really want to qualify as an Entrepreneur.
- Disposing of the employee mindset.
- Starting and running your own business.
- Adopting the Entrepreneurial mindset.
But a notice before you proceed – Know that every great business started as just an idea and every great idea needs money to develop. So, you need an idea to start with. That being said, I may not be fully talking about businesses you wouldn’t need capital for because a business must need cash to survive and Money to acquire a license or permit, equipment, supplies, office space, operating expenses, legal fees, etc but we will be showing you how to get your business up without your personal financial investments.
We will concentrate more on how to develop your idea and then transform that idea into something that investors would want to see and invest in. If you already have your idea, do not let the lack of capital stop you. Let’s get started
1. Disposing of the Employee Mindset
Success starts from acquiring the right mindset for any venture. You may have solely worked for people in the past and now it’s all about to change. Be careful so you don’t make that migration to being your own boss without first disposing of whatever you have learned in the past about money and be willing to adopt a new mentality.
Warning – Most times, people choose to want to become their own boss because they’re either treated poorly at their workplaces or think that just because they are experts in performing some tasks at their jobs, they can handle running a business that performs those tasks. It doesn’t work that way. So, make sure that you are equipped to deal with a whole new world of absolute uncertainty.
It’s also totally okay to keep your job. You may still be working at your job if you do not have the means to sustain your immediate needs pending when you’re ready to dive deeply and independently into your business and go all in.
Do not leave your business without first taking some entrepreneurial training/courses without first understanding the aspects that make up a business. You have to be a business person and not just someone who focuses on perfecting your services/products because that’d be one-sided. You can’t create an exceptional business that way – there is a multitude of things that make up even the smallest businesses you see around. So, it won’t be an easy journey – dispose of that thought, too.
2. Adopting the Entrepreneurial Mindset
Every great business you see around first started as a simple idea. Ideas are not just formed for the sake of enriching one’s self but ideas that solved a problem. You have to realize that by choosing to be an entrepreneur, your highest priority becomes solving problems. You have also got to change your perception of these two aspects;
Money – Cease seeing money as something to be spent but a seed to be grown. You have received paychecks in the past and blown it all, putting little thought on the acquisition. Change the way you see money today and understand that it’s a seed. If you don’t plant it and care for it, it may not grow. If you do not invest and watch those investments, you’ll be throwing away cash.
People – You have also got to change the way you see other people – employees and other people. Don’t see employees as people who work for you but as partners.
You need to build loyalty amongst those beneath you not inspire hatred by being emotionless to their plights. Also, change the way you see the world. I don’t know how you view the world but I bet you won’t go anywhere if you have nothing but true love for people. Love everyone genuinely and it changes how easy it is to put yourself in other people’s shoes, understand their problems, and think out a solution for them.
Make out time to keep learning. More on building your financial intelligence and mindset which doesn’t just come but which is worked on diligently.
3. Starting your business
In this section, we will be covering how to start your business. How do you know which business you’d want to go into? There are three approaches we will be looking at here.
Do what you know – Build a business around your skills and knowledge and not something outside of what you know because you’re also considering the time factor and resources. Time may be wasted trying to learn and perfect a new skill when that same time could go into developing your current skills, getting better, and serving your customers better.
When you don’t know what line of business to go into, try listening to your intuition. Most times, the answers we search for are just inside of us. Just keep quiet and listen.
Do what others do – The list on this one is endless. It involves going out and seeing other businesses and then focusing on whatever business appeals to you the most. You could start a blog or website, graphics/web design company, affiliate business, advertising, etc but this would require total immersion as you’d want to know what those that have gone ahead of you know in order to ease your journey.
Solve a pressing problem – Warning: This is by far the riskiest of them all. So, be careful that you gain some experience before launching out on this one. It’s risky because of the extreme uncertainty attached to change but can be very rewarding.
You may believe in your product or solution but also be careful and do your survey. People may not be as accepting as you are about your methods but as long as you do believe in them, you have the capacity to achieve them.
Other tips to finding out what business you’d love to launch into.
- Ask family and friends what pisses them off – You want something that people need a way out of. You need a real-life issue to solve. Get a solution for that and people would be ready to pay you to escape that problem.
- Innovate another product – This is how very many successful businesses you see today actually emerged. Facebook; newer improved version Myspace, Friendster, Google; new and improved version of Yahoo. You actually have a lesser rate of failure improving on someone else’s product or services than creating yours from scratch.
- Think about the future – There are actually businesses you could predict based on certain trends. They may not be popular now but when the time comes, a business satisfying that need would need to emerge. Do your research, use trend predictors and plan ahead.
An example would be data crunching. As we are moving into an era of large data usage and more people would love to be able to compress a lot of their data to save more space and get more files.
What you should be prepared for
- Doing all the work yourself – You would have to learn to handle all aspects of your business pending when you get additional hands or your business begins to grow. It certainly won’t be easy but it is the best way to go than hiring people your business cannot afford at the inception.
- Going without a paycheck – You would have been used to getting a certain amount of money at the end of each month or week. That is all going to change. Prepare for that.
Words of advice
- Ask for help – You certainly do not need to do it alone as there are already successful people you could reach out to that has gone through what you want to do. Don’t waste your time trying to reinvent the wheel. Why not get someone who has created the wheel to guide you along the way?
- Network – You are the average of 5 people you hang out with. You must have heard this at some point in your life. If you really want to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and spirit, then you have to interact more with people of like minds and that makes a whole lot of difference.
- Partnerships – It’s a great way to start a business without doing it all alone. You need to however be careful of whom you choose as a partner as that could adversely affect the efficiency of your business. You should also be able to accept and make up for the weaknesses of each other. That makes a great team – imperfect people coming together, covering up each other’s defaults and working together to create something extraordinary.
- Reduce your needs – You don’t necessarily need to start big. Businesses have certain principles that when obeyed or not, can actually cause one to succeed or fail. It functions in all businesses, whether big or small. So, there is no big deal starting small. Realize that it’s not just about the money, your knowledge and experiences also build up when you start small, when you function, and also understand the various components that make up a great business.
How to access funding
You have begun to work on your mindset and even decided on which business you’d want to start. Now, how can you get access to capital or funding for your business? That’s what we’d be talking about here.
Get a business plan – This is the very first step to take if you are serious about funding as potential investors would need to see a plan, outlining the business description, profitability, and more. Lucky for you, read How to write a killer business plan for a startup that attracts investors
Know your target market – Have a specific target that you want your business to reach. You have to be very specific and detailed about this one. It helps to know which marketing strategies to adopt in reaching out to your ideal customers.
Ways to get funding for your business idea
1. Crowdfunding –This is a very interesting way to raise capital for your business. It involves raising a very large amount of money with collective contributions from a large number of people. You want a great business idea that emotionally connects with people. There are websites that are great for crowdfunding your business idea;
- Rockethub
- FundRazr
- Kickstarter
- Indiegogo
- YouCaring
- Pozible
2. Angel investors – These are very rich people who are looking to invest in small businesses for an ownership stake in the company. You need to be very careful though, some of these guys are first investors before being angels or anything else. So be careful and do your homework so that your ideas don’t get stolen.
3. Family and friends – You could also get loans from family and friends. Which at times is safer, as you won’t be paying heavily on interests. Reach out to family and friends, and share your idea with them. More often, they’ll be interested in helping you out if they see your passion for making things happen.
4. Government grants or loans – The Government gives grants to help individuals set up businesses, mainly to satisfy a need in a country. So, if your business satisfies a need that directly affects your country, you have a greater chance of getting the grant.
Lastly, keep developing yourself as that is key to succeeding as an entrepreneur. Read books, attend seminars, take courses and brush up on your skills. Not technical but entrepreneurial skills. Best of luck!
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