The Challenge of an Entrepreneur!

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Five Stages of Business Growth (25-slide PowerPoint presentation). This presentation introduces a framework for entrepreneurs to use when building and navigating their business from a nascent, startup state to an enterprise with a global footprint. This framework, called the 5 Stages of Business Growth, is based on the fact that all businesses experience common [read more]

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Entrepreneurship is far limited to a well-elaborated business plan with a positive return on investment. It is mainly about a very well articulated vision and the passion that emanates from it. It is also about attitude, personality, and the whole phrenology of being an entrepreneur. Schools may get you to learn the theoretical part of entrepreneurship, but experience will enable you to embrace the practical meaningful one.

My aim in this article is not to discuss the technical implications or the tangible resources we need to become an entrepreneur as they may differ from one project or sector to another. My goal is to discuss the resources within us as human beings that can turn the impossible into possible; that can turn a great idea into reality despite the hurdles.  These inner resources, however, are limitless, and we all have the capacity to ignite and empower them.

How many entrepreneurs started from scratch, and their inner convictions, beliefs in themselves and passions conducted them to real success and made others believe in them even more? There are great examples in the market. The opposite is true. How many entrepreneurs with great funds went bankrupt simply because they did not have the right attitude to handle the changes? Kodak is a very good example, which used to be famous. It peaked at 28 billion dollars in 1997 but went into bankruptcy as it did not adapt to the digitization revolution. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adapatble to change.” Charles Darwin.

Entrepreneurship has never being an alternative when things go wrong in your career or a simple shift in your professional path. Entrepreneurship is about a sense of purpose, a great reason behind. Many companies excelled in answering the what question and the how, but rarely the why thing. You may be wondering why it is so important. The main key element to success, based on a study that involves fifty successful great entrepreneurs, is the love and the passion behind an idea. In other words, you have to have an emotional investment of what you are doing if you don’t want to give up. Success is not guaranteed but failure is pretty much guaranteed if you don’t have this passion.

More, being an entrepreneur is not only about a business. The idea may represent only 1% of the journey. It is also about how you define yourself. It is about trust, relationships, and responsibility as you will have to go beyond biases in order to understand the needs of your customers. You will need a great idea, for sure, a great passion to carry on, but you will have also to move to executions and put all pieces altogether.

Being an entrepreneur is more about a mindset as you will always need to adopt the right attitude even when things don’t go as expected. Being an entrepreneur is a great journey to go through but this does not mean that it’s all apple pie and golf course. I like comparing entrepreneurship to a pre-construction phase of a building. During this phase, all what you see is the noise, the dust, and the inconveniences. The contractor needs to invest money, time, and energy even in the absence of results. He may get outline schedules, over budget issue, lack of funds, and many other drawbacks to handle, but he cannot give up. It is a critical phase as the construction may last months, even years, but without patience and perseverance, all the efforts will go nonsense. Once this phase is over, everything is cleaned, the dust is removed, everyone one is impressed. You may forget even about all those inconveniences of the past as you start getting tangible great results. Being an entrepreneur is similarly a lot of patience and leadership.

Five challenges to consider along your journey as an entrepreneur. It is not one shot action but a continuous process that will make you eager to even more. In the absence of these inner resources, even the tangible resources will make no sense.

Confidence

Confidence is a key. You gain confidence through action. You become more-self-confident when you step out from your comfort zone; you stay positive when everything is negative; you remain strong when things go wrong. Confidence is an inner resource to search for it as it is a great emotion to attain from inside.

Purpose

It should answers the WHY as it will give a purpose behind your actions. What drives you, motivates and excites you about going through it. When the answer is very clear in your mind, it will be difficult to give up as you will always have the passion to find the means and build the capacities to make things happen. “People don’t buy what you do; people will buy why you do it” Simon Sinek

Focus

Focus is fundamental to avoid dispersed energy and a waste of time. Self-doubt will easily creep in, but focus is excellent in overcoming it. Focus will also enable you to master easily what you are doing to become expert. Focus and expertise will provide you with more confidence, create trust, and build long lasting relationships. 

Hunger

You cannot be an entrepreneur if you don’t develop the curiosity and the hunger to be on the learning and self-improvement process. Hunger will enable you also to keep an eye on the market, to search continuously for customer needs and how to add value to them. Hunger makes you different. It will set you out from the crowd.

Discipline

Discipline is the fuel you develop from inside that will keep you moving forward to achieve your goals. To develop discipline, you have to enhance your physical endurance. Focus without discipline will be a waste of time. You may have a brilliant idea, a great passion, all the resources required but without discipline you will be missing great opportunities.

Being an entrepreneur is being on a JOURNEY with a great VISION but without necessarily a clear MAP. You may need sustainable tangible resources, but your inner resources are even greater. The first ones will get you started, but the second ones will make you persevere to achieve your goals.

“We believe anything is possible. We see opportunity when others see impossibility. We take risks. We are focused. We hustle. We know that nothing is unrealistic. We feel overwhelming  love. We embrace our childlike wonder & curiosity. We take flying leaps into the unknown. We contribute to something bigger than ourselves. We create. We learn. We grow. We do. We believe it’s never too late to start living a dream. We are entrepreneurs!” – Gurbaksh Chahal

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