Do not rush into Entrepreneurship

As entrepreneurship grows in popularity, more people are interested in starting their own business. The irony is that successful entrepreneurs command vast resources and given celebrity status even though few people understand their journey. For new businesses, statistics show that two thirds survive at least two years, 44% for four years and start-ups have a 40% chance for more than five years. There is a growing need to balance the popular expectation of entrepreneurship with reality. In a space where it is more likely to fail than succeed, becoming an entrepreneur is a huge risk. Before taking that step, persons should evaluate how they think about money, value and collaboration.

Making money work for you

Entrepreneurs see the world as a network of transactions where products/services are exchanged for money. Money is a platform and aspiring entrepreneurs in thinking about money should understand the following:

1. Cost are guaranteed, not revenue: every business starts with costs but is not sure to make a sale. Aspiring entrepreneurs need to accurately estimate cost and managing spending within their business. The trickiest cost include getting new clients, interest from credit facilities, extra staff expenses and inflation. It is dangerous to take on these cost without a source of revenue or dependent on a small amount of client.
2. Sell for others, not yourself: people will buy what is valuable to them not the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs get accustom to sharing ideas to others so they see the value. Usually, it starts off with a small group using the MVP and taking the results to understand what the market is demanding. PayPal started with E-Bay users and Facebook received feedback from college campuses. The difficulty of getting strangers to see the value for them can discourage aspiring entrepreneurs.

• Practice with money, makes better money: doing business is the best practice for entrepreneurship. As experience with customers grow, making money becomes easier. Apart from making it, entrepreneurs need a good track record with managing money. Aspiring entrepreneurs have to be clear on how their idea makes money, where it comes and how to use that money.

A commitment to make stuff that matter

The widespread use of one innovation can lead to a new challenge that demands another innovative solutions. Trends in computer technology created a demand for storage and logistics independent of physical infrastructure that cloud solutions are attempting to solve. This demand for tomorrow’s solution create opportunities for entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs take the risk to solve these problems because of a commitment to improve the overall value of life through their business idea.

Aspiring entrepreneurs should distinguish between having entrepreneurial traits and being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship demands a strong work ethic as the bare minimum in a more competitive world. Before getting into business you need to know how well you can (i) balance the demands of a new business with family life, (ii) learn from the mistakes and challenges connected to innovation and (iii) address factors that are out of your control. These considerations affect how hard you would strive to create innovations of value to others. A commitment to adding value through hard work is the best way to overcome the challenges of nurturing a business.

Learning to work with others

Making money work for you to create stuff that matter is connected to how well you can collaborate. Media coverage of entrepreneurship can fan the belief that it is an individual pursuit, however in reality business is all about learning how to master collaboration. Entrepreneurs have to improve their mobilising of their resources and networks to fill the gaps in their own capabilities. Collaboration occurs either horizontal (peers and business relations) or vertical (superiors, mentors, coaches, etc) and is one of the best ways of testing initial assumptions while improving your understanding of business culture. A lack of understanding of corporate culture is a major stumbling block for new entrepreneurs who find themselves making avoidable mistakes. The wisdom from collaboration helps new entrepreneurs know the circles where transactions occur, the influential players in their industry and find mentors to assist along the journey.

Entrepreneurship is not something to jump into without consideration. Persons must balance their expectations with a willingness undergo the trial and error that comes with business.

Thank you for reading this post, to join the collaboration movement (1) Like this post and share your comments below, (2) hit the “follow” button at the top of the page, (3) share this post with your friends and (4)check out other interesting articles

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Joshua Hamlet is an evangelist for the importance of collaboration. His company Inspire Consulting focuses on education and mentoring for Caribbean entrepreneurs and start-ups. He has a Bsc in Psychology and Msc in International Relations.