Evolving into an Entrepreneur
As I said before, anybody can be an entrepreneur. That’s still correct. There are certain attitudes and attributes which successful entrepreneurs share. Right now, you may have some of them, all of them, or very few. You might be more Technician, more Manager, or a bit of all three. That doesn’t matter. What matters is your will- ingness to learn. To grow into the Entrepreneur’s shoes. To know what you are striving for and work on those qualities no matter what...
So how do we do that?
I. LEAD THE WAY
The first and most important of these attributes is to be able to act like a leader. Leadership requires very different actions to those required from a Manager. The leader needs to be authentic, trustworthy, able to build strong relationships, exercise sound judgement, communicate well, take decisions without dithering, inspire others and, also, be humble and truly himself, or herself, at all times. Relax and breathe. Always be prepared for change. Remember that the pain of change always leads to a bigger and more abundant world for all. But it does not come without pain. Pain and change are fellow travellers on the journey of both entrepreneurship (and life) and are thus unavoidable. So, be the sun and shine on your garden. With love and perseverance. And it will grow. It is OK to be nonconformist. If you didn’t shine at school, or take kindly, or easily, to becoming a multi skilled all rounder, all is not lost. You may just have exactly what it takes to become an outstanding entrepreneur.
II. THE ABILITY TO FAIL
Above all else, you need to have the ability to fail, the ability to have ideas and sell those ideas, the courage to execute those ideas, and be persistent enough to wear away mountains—so that, if you fail, you learn and move on to the next adventure, to the next dream. This is a 180 degree change of mindset from employment. Nurturing ideas is an ability which grows fast with practice. Ideas don’t have to be only business ideas. They can also include ideas which can help you escape from tricky situations.
You need to do all this—and then you need to take the word ‘fail’ out of your vocabulary. Everything we do in life is a success. We breathe. We love. We practise kindness. We deal with other human beings. We have experiences. We improve. This is magnificent and abundant success.
III. OPENNESS TO IDEAS
Be an ideas machine. Come up with ten new ideas every day. No, that was not a typo. I did say EVERY day. By doing that you will exercise your ideas muscle. Many of the ten ideas will be impracticable and will never grow in the sunshine. List them anyway. Some will. By doing this, daily, you will reach the point, in a few weeks, where you are brimming with new ideas. And new ideas are the air which en- trepreneurs breathe. Ideas are the currency of life, more than money, because while money can run out, good ideas never do. Good ideas buy you good experiences and more time. They can even save your life.
IV. BALANCE OPTIMISM WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
‘Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and expect something in the middle’. Try to walk the line between pessimism and over optimism. Not a bad mantra for the entrepreneur. On the entrepreneurial journey there will be unseen, unfamiliar and unexpected obstacles to be circumnavigated. There will be disappointments. There will be difficult, sometimes impossible, people to deal with. There will be mistakes, many of them your own, some of them expensive. There will be moments where tough decisions need to be taken. There will be times when over optimism is punished, where crisis management is needed as a band-aid because of a lack of proper planning, where people let you down, where teams make mistakes through lack of joined up thinking, where inattention to detail is expensive, where there is a downturn in the market, when a competitor damages your business, where a failure to implement results in a missed opportunity, where greed steps in and you forget your principles for a moment, where there is too much pressure and something is overlooked, when you get the experience which comes from not getting what you want. What a list. I’m sure you know all of that. And yet you still want to set up a business. That’s optimism. That’s hope. And the entrepreneur runs out of fuel without those two. List your achievements and review them regularly. They are a wonderful way of topping up that fuel tank.
V. RESILIENCE AND COURAGE
When you have been an entrepreneur for a few years, you may have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. To do that you have to develop almost super human resilience. You will need courage—that’s moral courage—to state your truth, fairly and squarely, whenever it needs to be stated. To be firm in any decision you take and considerate in how you carry it out. To always implement your decisions, without vacillating. And without fear or favour.
VI. LOVE
Yes, the L-word. Love for your business. Love for your team. Love for your clients and customers. Love for all those around you, who remind you not to sacrifice quality of life with them for work, work, work. And love for yourself. You must become a true networker and connector—nurturing a love of people with a desire to help them, even ahead of your own advancement. This will make a huge difference to your success. And just remember this. Life is not a portfolio—neither for a start up founder, nor for anyone else. An entrepreneur cannot diversify—at least until he, or she, has a business which is fully established and robust. He or she cannot keep dozens of options open at all times. So, love your business, focus on it, and love your people too. That will give you the best chance of prospering.
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