3 Ways to Recapture Entrepreneurialism

The early days of a company are the most exciting. Whether you are working out of cheap rental space or someone’s garage, there is a sense of adventure in the air. It propels you forward even when the odds seem stacked against you.

But once you are successful and you don’t have to fight for your survival every day, something unfortunate can happen: You lose your energy, your drive, your sense of adventure. Now you are a company, not a dream. That early fire is gone.

Here’s how to get it back:

1. Encourage entrepreneurial behavior. We encourage entrepreneurship and allow employees to find ways of creating value. We tolerate risk while looking closely at results, both in terms of metrics and actions. Risk with good results will be rewarded.
   
2. Talk about the mindset. I speak about the need for an entrepreneurial mindset all the time. It’s often the subject of my weekly addresses to the company. It’s a staple of my speeches to Rakuten.com merchants. I make it an ever-present part of my conversations every day, so that Rakuten employees think about it as well.
   
3. Allow for mistakes. In the early days, everyone in a new venture makes mistakes. It’s expected. As a company grows, that may be less tolerated. Be sure to allow for the entrepreneurial experimentation you embraced in your early days. Mistakes will happen – just as they did back in the garage days. Try to make them light mistakes and learn from them. It’s part of the process.

How have you recaptured the entrepreneurial spirit?