Forget About “Unicorns”: It’s Time to Tap the Power of Micro-Entrepreneurs

Though I’ve been immersed in the business world ever since I joined Unilever 28 years ago, it was a recent encounter with a young woman in Taiwan that really changed my definition of “entrepreneurship.”

When I first joined Amway in 2019, I embarked on a 100-day “listen and learn” tour. In Taipei, just by chance I happened to meet a new Amway entrepreneur named Ruru. In her early 20s, she was excited to get started to build a business of her own — though there was a layer of hesitancy beneath the sparkle in her eyes. What did she, someone who had just finished college and was working full-time in video game design know about entrepreneurship? What did she know about building a team, identifying a market need, sharing nutrition knowledge and driving customer sales? Most importantly, what would her family and friends think if she failed?

But what she lacked in business experience, she more than made up for with a positive attitude. Ruru also had the benefit of being part of a “family of friends” of fellow budding entrepreneurs, alongside the support and coaching of a business leader who was driven by a desire to help others be successful. I did my best to give her confidence and encouragement, and wished her well on this exciting new chapter in her life.

Fast forward to March of this year, 2021.

I marked off a morning on my calendar and asked my team to help coordinate a catch-up conversation with Ruru. For the past couple years, I had heard some informal updates from colleagues, but I wanted to hear from her directly. I wanted to see what her experience as a new entrepreneur had really been like. I didn’t really know what to expect when I hopped on the Zoom call that morning … and I ended up being blown away by what I found.

In the years since our first meeting, Ruru has become a confident businessperson. Her personal development, maturity and enthusiasm were palpable. Largely through coaching from her business mentors, she’s developed a strong community of happy, loyal customers. She lives a healthy, active lifestyle, and has built an online community who looks to her for both nutrition products and healthy living advice. Ruru said she’s able to balance building her Amway business part-time around her passions, while continuing to work full-time in a corporate setting as she builds that side of her career. She enjoys this flexibility, while living a life full of wellness. 

Too often, we think of entrepreneurship in a one-dimensional way. We only look at it through the glitz and glamour of seed-funding, venture capital, IPOs, and billion-dollar “unicorns” who have shaken up industries. Media, business books are full of buzzwords such as “blitzscale,” “monetization,” “disruption,” and “growth hacking.” However, this focus on the top one percent of businesses doesn’t do justice to the large number of micro-entrepreneurs who have built small but vibrant communities all on their own. Across the world, millions of budding entrepreneurs with a growth mindset are seeking new opportunities, the helping hand of a mentor, and an ecosystem that makes it easy and frictionless to build their own business with flexibility, on their own time. 

Globally, there are countless stories of entrepreneurs and creators like Ruru who have found success in building a business of their own, largely part-time, despite no prior background or experience. How does this happen?

The trends shaping the future of entrepreneurship

While there are many trends to watch in the post-pandemic world (such as the rise of holistic health and wellness and consumer demand for online shopping), there are two trends moving full-steam ahead, poised to fuse in a way I believe could forever change the way we think of entrepreneurship. 

The first trend is the surge in corporate workplace flexibility. In the U.S. and around the world, there is strong demand — particularly among younger employees — for career flexibility that gives them the freedom to work remotely, on their own terms. People are increasingly willing to walk away from jobs that don’t meet their demands for working whenever and wherever they want.

The second trend is the rise in the passion economy, as people are increasingly turning their passions into businesses using social platforms and technology. Many of these creators still want to work in traditional careers, but they also have a knack for entrepreneurship, and are able to monetize their passions by building online communities through sharing content, tips, products and services around things they love most.

Combine these together and you have a recipe for a new wave of micro-entrepreneurship at scale: a boom within the passion economy of creators who have increasing flexibility with location and hours in their traditional careers.

Mentorship and training: The keys to democratizing entrepreneurship 

Today, entrepreneurship is being democratized like never before. At Amway, we believe that all one needs to be an entrepreneur and a creator are three Ps: a passion, a positive attitude and a phone.

Creators everywhere are proving that being an entrepreneur doesn’t require start-up capital, specific professional or educational qualifications, or a business network that can provide growth funding. Frankly, we believe that anyone, anywhere, anytime can be a creator and build a community of customers around their passion … they just may need a bit of good mentorship and training to get started. 

Ask successful people – entrepreneurs or employees — what the most valuable resource they have, and more often than that, the answer is “mentorship.” For any new creator, having a mentor to get advice from or bounce ideas off is invaluable. Especially in times of uncertainty, as we are all finding new ways to work and connect with colleagues and customers virtually, mentorship is as important as ever. 

Mentorly, a digital marketplace for mentorship, has seen a 457% spike in growth since the pandemic started. And at Amway, mentorship is often the key ingredient to the success of a new business owner. We often see that our most successful young entrepreneurs are those that work in the leadership shadow of our most successful business owners who have built their Amway business over years or even decades. 

In addition to personal mentorship, training is increasingly important for new entrepreneurs and creators turning their passion into a business opportunity. YouTube’s Creator Academy, Facebook’s Creator Studio, LinkedIn Learning and offerings on other social platforms provide robust training materials for those looking for learning and development.

In addition to these social platform programs, there are other key trends shaping the modern training experience for budding entrepreneurs. We have our eyes on each of these as we build our social commerce training systems at Amway. 

First, the best training experience is omni-channel and on-demand, with lessons and videos that can be accessed virtually anytime, on any device. Second, training is becoming increasingly collaborative, with creators learning from each other by sharing content and tips on what is working and what isn’t. Third, training is increasingly personalized and AI-driven, where platforms learn more about a creator as they navigate through content, allowing them to serve up new lessons, notifications and badges based on the individual personalities and passions of each creator. 

The power of giving back

In a recent conversation, one of our pioneering leaders, Pramilla from Mumbai, shared that the biggest lesson from her success as an entrepreneur, mentor and creator has been to focus on first giving back to others. 

In Pramilla’s words: “Don’t be in a rush to get results. Don’t be in a hurry to take back. Give, give, and give. Then, through giving, you become a magnet that attracts people.” 

I love this lesson. In an increasingly remote, virtual world powered by entrepreneurs and creators who share their passion with online communities, there is no currency more important than a simple helping hand. For someone who is just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey, with a sparkle in their eyes just like Ruru’s, perhaps the most important thing someone can offer them is a question: “How can I help?”

At Amway, we believe it’s time to shake up how we talk about the potential of entrepreneurship. It’s time to pivot from a singular focus on “unicorns” to celebrate and uplift the millions of micro-entrepreneurs like Ruru and her mentors like Pramilla, who are achieving success while continuously being driven by their passion.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments below. For more insights on taking business to the next level, be sure to subscribe to Passion and Purpose, my new newsletter.