Remember: Every day is a new opportunity to get up and do it better than yesterday!”
Ajaero Tony Martins says that “My best advice to entrepreneurs is this: Forget about making mistakes, just do it.” Making mistakes is a part of the journey of an entrepreneur.
Albert Einstein once said that “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” So, once again, mistakes are a part of the journey.
10 things most people don’t know about entrepreneurship
This, I believe will help you become a successful person.
#1. It’s not all about the money
Mark Cuban said, “It’s not about money or connections. It’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone when it comes to your business.”
Of course, we start our entrepreneurship journey with the aim to make money and make a lot of it, but it is never the primary reason why people (who have succeeded in their entrepreneurship journey) start their own business.
If all your focus is on making money, you’ll end up being all over the place, which will eventually lead to a disconnection from the essence of who you are as a creative entrepreneur and the value you can uniquely add.
Thanks to the media, entrepreneurs have been painted as people who can easily afford multi-million dollar mansions and luxury sports cars because they’ve got the business brains to help them make all the money they want to.
No!
It isn’t.
They start out doing what they love, providing value over and over again. As a matter of fact, they probably had little to nothing to show for their businesses when they initially started. However, their focus wasn’t on the money but on creating value and eventually, they got to where they are right now.
#2. Entrepreneurs create opportunities instead of finding it
Many people think that entrepreneurs find opportunities and then capitalize on them. No, they actually create opportunities for themselves. They start by carving out a niche for themselves, create a product for that need and then take it to the market.
#3. Entrepreneurs get frustrated by everything
For every plan you make, they will take twice as long, if it eventually happens. All the plans that seemed very easy on paper, such as create a website, start blogging, etc, will take weeks to eventually actualize. The end product, however, is that you end up becoming an expert in your field.
#4. Self-doubt is a part of the journey
Great entrepreneurs look so calm and composed on the outside, however, they deal with an emotional roller coaster that comes with running a business, one of which is self-doubt. Self-doubt is normal and natural in entrepreneurs, but that does not mean that self-doubt gets to be the master. Learning to quickly overcome these feelings and any other form of emotional instability is a part of the journey you must also learn.
#5. Entrepreneurs are more frugal than you think
Although it may seem that entrepreneurs lavish their money on luxuries, they are one of the most frugal people you can think of. Entrepreneurship teaches most entrepreneurs to be extremely conscious about how they spend their money.
They believe in a frugal lifestyle so that they can save enough to invest in order to reach a certain financial milestone. After which, they become a lot more loose with their spending especially since they deserve it.
#6. Entrepreneurship is for the hardworking
Getting funds and capital to run your business, taking your business to the marketplace and all of the other steps/processes that come with entrepreneurship isn’t one of the easiest things to do. If you think it’s a lie, trying convincing a group of friends to a product they have never heard about, not to talk about a bunch of strangers that do not even see the importance of your own product over another.
You see, before anyone will cut you a check, you have to put in a lot of work. Talk about investors as well, they are disciplined enough to not jump at every business talk that comes their way. They’d request that you build a minimum viable product and gain traction before investing a penny into your business. It takes a lot of work to put all of these together.
#7. Most entrepreneurs have side jobs
Entrepreneurs are anything but unemployed. You’d be surprised to find out most entrepreneurs have a side job that’s probably better than yours, especially when starting a business.
Why?
They need extra income to run their businesses. This means that they have to work twice as hard as others, considering the fact that their businesses might not be providing enough funding for successful running.
#8. Entrepreneurship involves failure before success
According to Albert Einstein, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” In entrepreneurship, failure is inevitable. It comes in different shapes and sizes but it is still a failure and it is bound to happen.
Why?
Because that’s how you learn. In entrepreneurship, you are likely to make a bunch of mistakes and have a lot of setbacks. However, your ability to rise above them will equip you with the insight and resilience you’ll need to eventually succeed.
Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
#9. Entrepreneurship requires perseverance
Have you ever heard this popular saying?
‘The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives.
It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.’ It takes perseverance to remain in the right place even when it looks isolated. In business, especially the early years, you’re most likely going to be on your own.
It is your vision, no one sees it as clearly as you do, so no one will move at the pace you want your dream to move, which is why it will take time to build even though we all want what we want fast. Entrepreneurship requires a persevering and not giving up attitude even when the only thing you want to do is quit.
#10. It’s not easy at all
It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and control the players on the field, but it is never easy when you are the player on the field. If you want to get into entrepreneurship, so make up your mind to face them and understand that this is not an easy journey, you have to work hard for it. However, like every other successful entrepreneur, success is 100 percent possible if you put in the required work.