entrepreneur traits

7 common myths about entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a career which is gaining popularity worldwide but still isn’t very well understood which is why there are so many myths regarding this career option.

Entrepreneurship is a career which is gaining popularity worldwide but still isn’t very well understood which is why there are so many myths regarding this career option. A lot of people believe these myths to be true which is why they don’t pursue their ambition of being an entrepreneur despite having a great idea. So, if you’re still confused, don’t worry, we’ve got the most common myths debunked for you.

Here’s a list of 7 most common myths about entrepreneurship:

1. Entrepreneurs are born, not made

This is the most common myth that deters people from becoming entrepreneurs. However, this is completely untrue. A normal person with an idea which solves a problem the society is dealing with can become an entrepreneur if he works on certain skills. If one is ready to develop on leadership and managerial skills and isn’t scared to take risks, one can aim to become a successful entrepreneur.

2. All you need is money

This myth is not completely justified because you may have great investors pumping in a lot of money into your venture but if your idea doesn’t appeal to the people, they will not buy your product or service. Thus, money might be important but it is more important to use the money wisely in places where it is required.

3. Entrepreneurs are usually college drop-outs

This is a common disbelieve because great people like Mark Zuckerberg, Mukesh Ambani and Steve Jobs have managed to become successful entrepreneurs without a college degree. However, a formal and educated background only helps an entrepreneur to understand concepts and the business better. An entrepreneur becomes one because of his idea and developed skills set and not his college degree.

4. You need an out of the box idea to start up

This is another myth about entrepreneurship which needs to be debunked. It is true that you need an idea to develop on but the idea doesn’t need to be a completely new or innovative one. Running a restaurant, school or any kind of business or adding value to an already existing idea which solves problems of the society can also serve as a great base for entrepreneurship.

5. Having no boss the best feeling

A lot of people consider entrepreneurship because they believe they will get to set their own terms at work and lead a team. However, this might not be a favourable scenario for every venture. With ideas like leadership coaches catching up, it is proved that even entrepreneurs who lead a team require help from superiors in order to succeed.

6. You need the perfect timing

People often comment saying that it is actually luck which will make you a successful entrepreneur. They believe that it is important that the time is right and destiny is in your favour. However, the history of entrepreneurs has proved this to be absolute rubbish as successful people like Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, got success only later in their life in spite of a brilliant idea.

7. Starting a business isn’t that difficult

A lot of entrepreneurs we see aren’t college pass outs which have led to the common belief that entrepreneurship isn’t very difficult to achieve. Instead of attending rigorous classes, they concentrated on developing a skill set and an idea which they’ve grown only due to their hard work. A typical entrepreneur fails many times before s/he can succeed and defeat failure isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

Related Post: 8 Common business plan mistakes

We hope we’ve debunked the most common yet misunderstood myths about entrepreneurship for you.

Four signs which show that you have a hidden entrepreneur in you

YASSS!!! I am an entrepreneur.

Stuck in the 9 to 5 rut, you might feel like you don’t possess any skills required by an entrepreneur to start-up.

However, there might be certain qualities which are innate or core to your personality which qualify you to become a successful entrepreneur which you aren’t aware of.

Here are four signs which show that you can become a great entrepreneur:

1. Hate working under a boss

You are not the kind of person to take orders from people; you like to be your own boss and work according to the timings and deadlines you set for yourself. Added to that, if you possess great leadership skills worthy of leading a team towards a single focus, you are an entrepreneur in the making.

2. Don’t like the 9-5 environment

The normal 9-5 job timings and environment are not for you; you feel trapped and claustrophobic in those conditions and often like setting your own deadlines which you find easier to adhere to. An entrepreneur needs to be able to dedicate long working hours to a cause s/he is committed to in order to be a successful one.

3. You are passionate about innovating

You believe that necessity is the mother of all inventions and this fuels your innate need to constantly innovate solutions to the existing problems. When you see a problem, you look for a solution in the most unique way possible. This skill is crucial for an entrepreneur as you constantly need to innovate in order to sustain in a competitive environment and make your company bigger and more successful.

4. You believe in being a creative thinker

Unless innovation is supported by creative thinking, you cannot aspire to start your own enterprise. If you are a creative thinker who spots problems and finds solutions to them in the most creative and out-of-the-box way possible, you are fit to become an entrepreneur. Your idea needs to be creative and uncommon in order to appeal to your target group and gain success.

If you possess the skills/attributes mentioned above, stop wasting time and start something of your own!

Image credit: Entrepreneur.com

5 Reasons why you would make an excellent entrepreneur

To help see if you are cut out for the entrepreneurial road, here are five signs you should jump the corporate ship and go out on your own.

If you have the vision to connect the dots and ideas at your present job, chances are you would make a great entrepreneur. But often people love the idea of having a “real job” too much to even give freedom a try. To help see if you are cut out for the entrepreneurial road, here are five signs you should jump the corporate ship and go out on your own.

1. You genuinely love what you do

In the corporate world, some people just punch the clock to pay the bills. They don’t really get any fulfillment or pleasure from their responsibilities.

On the other hand, there are some employees that take a lot of pride in their jobs. They don’t hesitate to go the extra mile to get tasks done. This sort of passion is one of the basic requirements for starting anything, especially a new venture.

If you are putting your mind and energy to doing an amazing job at your current position, you will love your own projects even more. Entrepreneurs who are passionate about their ideas believe they can do a better job than the people already serving that market. They change how we use everyday products and services in the process. If you think along those lines, chances are you will do better as an entrepreneur.

2. You would rather ask for forgiveness than permission

Most people in a job setting prefer to stick to the rules and work by the books (aka the “yes” people). If you need to ask permission to execute the simplest tasks, you may struggle to get your own ideas off the ground as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs don’t ask, they do. If you tend to do most tasks without asking permission at your current job, you would be better off as an entrepreneur than an employee.

3. You crave innovation

You may not be the employee of the month but if you are thinking about new ways to get business processes done faster, smarter and cheaper, you will certainly add a lot of value to your product or service if you ventured out on your own. If you crave innovation, chances are you have a list of things you want to do to make life or work easier for others. So, if you keep telling yourself: “there has to be a better way to do this,” it may be a good time to become an entrepreneur.

4. You are comfortable with change

No business can survive without some kind of change: consumer and market demands change every year. Entrepreneurs know that. They study trends and know what to build or improve to stay in business as long as possible. So, you need to be comfortable with change and uncertainty and be willing to pivot quickly.

And if you hate to drop your current process of doing things for a smarter or even faster way, you probably shouldn’t start your own business.

5. You are not afraid to fail

Some people are just afraid of making mistakes. If you can’t overcome your fear of failure, you would be better off keeping your day job.

You need to keep in mind, you are not your failure. Entrepreneurs choose to try and try again until they succeed. In business, mistakes are opportunities to learn and move on. If you see setbacks as stepping stones to your end goal, you will go a long way as an entrepreneur.

In business, mistakes are opportunities to learn and move on. If you see setbacks as stepping stones to your end goal, you will go a long way as an entrepreneur.

A life of doing will always trump a life of “doing as you are told”. Choose to be an entrepreneur today.

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com

Image credit: Business Insider

7 mindsets an entrepreneur needs to adopt ASAP

It is necessary to remain in the business because suffering a setback isn’t easy and trying to build a company from scratch is definitely not easy.

The life and career of an entrepreneur is tough and is etched with challenges in every step of the journey. There are certain traits and qualities that an entrepreneur should possess. It is necessary to remain in the business because suffering a setback isn’t easy and trying to build a company from scratch is definitely not easy.

Here are few mindsets an entrepreneur should adopt to remain in the business:

1. Oodles of confidence

Add endless amounts of confidence to your personality but make sure the liberal dosages are confined to just confidence and don’t tend to be over-confidence. You need to be confident about your idea and your plan because if you aren’t sure, you can’t convince others. You need to be thorough and proud of your plan to pitch it to VCs in the best way possible.

2. Be fearless

Under-confidence can be a reason for being scared of adopting new ideas in any sphere. If you want to succeed in this field, you need to be fearless and try new things. Once you overcome your fear, you will learn about a world of possibilities beyond what you thought was achievable. It doesn’t matter if you fail or succeed; either way, it is a great learning opportunity which lets you explore yourself.

3. Choose your own goals

Just because the competitor is growing at a break-neck speed doesn’t mean you need to copy them. Choose your own goals and make sure they’re realistic and can be fulfilled in a set time period. You know best what you and your company can achieve in a given time period so be confident enough to have the guts to set your own goals and work towards achieving them relentlessly.

4. Accept challenges

Challenges can approach you at any time and in any form: an unhappy employee, an unsatisfied client or a failed idea. Do not shy away from the challenge. Accept it whole-heartedly and face it head-on. Try to find out creative and fool-proof ways of overcoming the hurdle and move forward.

5. Owning responsibility

For a normal employee’s mistakes, the boss and the higher section of the office hierarchy is responsible but in the case of an entrepreneur, he is the one solely and wholly responsible for all actions; good and bad. Entrepreneurs understand the value of opportunities and don’t waste them. You need to step up and be proactive in all spheres to set an example for your employees.

6. Risk-taking

An entrepreneur shouldn’t shy away from taking risks because these risks are the ones which might pay off and make him successful later. If you’re afraid of risks, you will put a limit to how much you can grow and succeed as a company and continue existing in the comfort zone. But to become bigger than yesterday, you need to go ahead and take that risk. The worst case might be that the risk you take might not pay off; in that case, you can treat it as a great lesson and continue with your life.

7. Enjoy breaking pre-conceived notions and rules

You didn’t choose entrepreneurship over a normal 9-5 job to stick to the age old rules in the company rule book. Entrepreneurs shouldn’t be accepting the status quo and looking to break them creatively at all times. Learn to look at problems with a parallel and unique vision nod develop new and creative solutions to them.

Image credit: http://attitudes4innovation.com/

5 Things only entrepreneurs can truly understand

Any job can give you the opportunity to learn hard lessons and find new ideas about the world, but only through entrepreneurship can you deeply understand these truths.

Entrepreneurship isn’t a job – it’s a lifestyle.

But even the word “lifestyle” doesn’t quite capture the full experience. When you first delve into entrepreneurship, it’s likely you’ll have no idea what you’re doing. You’ll mess up, you’ll become disheartened when your plans don’t work out, and you’ll become tired after pouring all your effort into an idea that may or may not pay off.

However, pushing through the experience, whether it ends in success or failure, will change your perspective for the better and give you experience that you can use in your next adventure – even if it isn’t an entrepreneurial one.

Any job can give you the opportunity to learn hard lessons and find new ideas about the world, but only through entrepreneurship can you deeply understand the following truths:

1. Your plans will never work

This sounds abrasive and cynical to the average person, but to the entrepreneur who’s experienced this firsthand, it’s a solid truth. No matter how well you plan things out, and no matter how extensively you’ve thought everything through, your plans will never work out the way you expect them to. In the entrepreneurial world, there are too many unknowns and too many unpredictable factors to account for, and no plan can adequately respond to all of them.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. All that means is that your plans will have to evolve over time, and as a leader, you’ll need to avoid growing too attached to any one path forward. It comes down to being flexible, and accepting that your plans will eventually have to change.

2. There’s never a perfect time

Conservative risk-takers often try to wait for the “perfect moment” – whether that means buying a stock at the perfect price, launching a new product at the perfect time, or quitting your job to become an entrepreneur at the perfect point in your career. For those conservative risk-takers, that means waiting and waiting for all the stars to align before they take action.

Entrepreneurs know there’s no such thing as a “perfect” moment. Just like stock prices will always fluctuate, your product will never be perfect, and you’ll never see a perfect set of circumstances that allow you to leave your job comfortably.

As an entrepreneur, you have to take bigger risks and jump in even if it’s uncomfortable to do so. You’ll soon learn that action is always better than inaction, and waiting around for the “perfect” time is a waste. For entrepreneurs, perfection is the enemy of progress.

3. People come first

Entrepreneurs often start out convinced of the importance of their ideas and products and a vision of personal wealth, but all entrepreneurs eventually learn that people are more important than any of those. Even if you have a great idea, it’s going to mean nothing without the right people supporting it.

People are going to help you throughout your entrepreneurial journey. They’re your team, clients, investors, friends and family. Without them supporting your idea and contributing their own insights, your idea could fall totally flat. Entrepreneurs understand this, and do everything they can to keep the people around them motivated and inspired.

4. Failure is OK

Eventually, every entrepreneur will taste failure. Even massively successful entrepreneurs, such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson, have experienced devastating failures along the way.

Some people choose to let failure get the better of them and abandon their hopes or ideas, but the truly entrepreneurial minds out there accept and understand that failure is perfectly OK, and sometimes unavoidable.

Failure isn’t the end of the road. Instead, it’s an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and grow as a business owner. With this understanding, it’s easier to accept small and big failures alike and move on with more experience and a clearer vision for the future.

5. Persistence is everything

Millions of people come up with great ideas every day, but only a handful of them have the gumption to follow through with them. Similarly, many people start a business only to throw in the towel when things start to get tough.

Entrepreneurs realize that persistence makes the difference between success and failure. Even when you’re doubtful, even when you’re hesitant, and even when you’ve lost momentum, persisting is the only way to see your ideas through to fruition.

Whether you make it through your first entrepreneurial experience with your business still intact, these five lessons will eventually lead you to success. Understanding how ideas live and die, and having faith in your own abilities and those of the people around you are invaluable traits that can keep you moving forward even when you face massive obstacles along the way. This is what it means to be an entrepreneur.

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com

Image credit: www.huffingtonpost.com

8 qualities every entrepreneur requires to be successful

To become a successful entrepreneur, one needs to have certain qualities which are a combination of innate and acquired ones without which s/he cannot run a company successfully.

Here are some qualities every entrepreneur should possess and work on constantly:

1. Innovative

An entrepreneur needs to be innovative because without an idea or a product, his start-up is doomed to be a failure. The first requisite to become an entrepreneur is an innovative idea which one can work and develop upon. Also, once the idea is thought of, one also needs to employ out of the box ideas to market the company and grow as a successful one.

For instance, Henry Ford had an innovative idea of starting the assembly line which was the reason for his success.

2. Hard-working

This quality is definitely not negotiable. Every successful entrepreneur regardless of how big or small the company is needs to shell out long hours. Calling shots of a company might seem like an interesting task but it definitely isn’t an easy one. One should be able to measure the pros and cons of every decision before making one. Every entrepreneur knows that a company’s entire pressure is on his shoulders which is why he needs to work extra but once s/he starts enjoying the job, it is a smooth sail.

3. Risk Taking

One major stressful factor that an entrepreneur has to deal with is taking risks. An entrepreneur is always under a risk because he doesn’t know if his venture will work. Also, some risks could result in failure leading to a negative income and further hardships. However, for an entrepreneur, it is also very important to measure a risk accurately before it is taken.

After the failure of his first venture Traf-O-Data, Bill Gates decided to start his own company again called Microsoft. It was a risk he took which paid off well and he is currently the richest man in the world.

4. Determined

There are certain times in an entrepreneur’s life when s/he is bound to encounter failure as business is a combination of highs and lows alike. But, one should be determined to get through the bad phases of business with determination to make his innovative idea work. All an entrepreneur needs to do is believe in himself and his company before putting their idea out to people.

Milton Hershey had to watch three of his candy ventures flop before he could make it big by inventing Hershey’s. His love for chocolates and belief in his idea was what made him so successful.

5. Resourceful

It is absolutely important for an entrepreneur to be resourceful as he requires all the outside help he can garner for his company. At an initial phase, s/he requires funding which comes from big investors; to acquire which one needs to be courteous and needs to know how to deal with a particular investor. If an entrepreneur strikes at the right time, he can gain invaluable resources required to develop his start-up into a global brand.
TaxiForSure, a successful start-up, managed to raise $30 million in a series C funding. These kinds of funds are very essential to fuel a start-up.

6. Patient

A company cannot become successful overnight which is why every entrepreneur needs to be patient. An entrepreneur’s capability to do a certain task will increase with time and experience. As long as one continues to work on it with the right attitude, one can accomplish certain goals with time. However, once the initial phases of building a company are over, it is a relatively smooth sail; till then an entrepreneur needs to be very cautious about dealing with all kinds of stuff.

Thomas Alva Edison had to try 10,000 times to make a simple light bulb work. It was only due to his patience and determination; he was able to devise a formula to actually make it work.

7. Open to criticism

An entrepreneur should always be open to criticism. If he’s made a certain decision and it hasn’t worked in his favour, he should accept his mistake and move on, This doesn’t mean that an entrepreneur needs to accept all kinds of criticism because that would slow down his progress if he begins addressing every issue personally. Also, it is very important for a budding entrepreneur to learn from his mistakes so that he doesn’t repeat them again.

All successful companies have social media pages to address complaints. For example, HDFC has a separate Twitter page solely for complaints by customers.

8. Leadership skills

An entrepreneur may want to be a one man team but he does need a team to function smoothly. One also needs to have strong leadership and decision making skills in order to call the shots for his company. Leadership skills also come handy when the entrepreneur needs to delegate certain tasks or settle internal disputes.

Image credit: theknowledgeseekerz.blogspot.com

8 apps every entrepreneur needs to download

To make your task slightly easier, we have come up with a list of 8 apps which will help you in different areas by taking some workload off you.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t an easy task with all the risks and pressure of decision making involved. However, to make your task slightly easier, we have come up with a list of 8 apps which will help you in different areas by taking some workload off you.

1. MobileDay

An entrepreneur becomes one because he wants to dictate his own terms. On some occasions when one just needs to be at home, MobileDay comes to rescue. It can co-ordinate all conference meetings and email with the participants. This app is a life saver as it can perform tasks like dial-in automatically and even offer to direct you to your meeting space if you decide to go for one last-minute.

2. Pocket

A true entrepreneur is always searching for more ideas and inspiration which can come from anywhere. This app is a great book-marking app which lets you save a variety of content ranging from lengthy articles to a point on a listicle. Pocket also allows you to bookmark videos which you think you might want to see later. The bookmarked content can be accessed offline on all electronic devices later. You can use the Bookmark app to manage your bookmarks.

3. Venmo

Venmo is a free digital app that makes all financial concerns in your life vanish away. It is a digital wallet which is linked to your bank account. You can easily make or share payments through this app. It solves the issue of carrying cash while treating employees or splitting food/cab fare. Venmo can also be used by entrepreneurs to make instant payments or wire salaries to the employees safely and efficiently.

4. Clicky

A company’s trends need to be monitored regularly to make future decisions. To monitor all stats related to a website or a social media page, an entrepreneur can download Clicky. It presents the analytics in a manner similar to Google Analytics but in a more understandable and simple manner which can then be studied.

5. SignEasy

Printing, signing, scanning and then e-mailing a document is a tedious and time-taking procedure to do on a daily basis. SignEasy is an easy and time saving app through which an entrepreneur can sign the required documents by opening them in the app and clicking on sign. You can also resend the documents from your phone. Hence, this app is very efficient and time-saving on the whole.

6. Streaks

Life of an entrepreneur is tiring and tedious and he isn’t very equipped to remember a list of tasks to complete amidst all the jobs. Hence, Streaks help and entrepreneur to turn some tasks into daily habits by simply feeding them into the app. The app finds a way to remind you of the task at a certain time of the day and also keeps a score of how many days you actually keep the streak alive. This app can automatically help you make sometime in your daily schedule for the things you need to do.

7. Skype

This app is a no-brainer for any entrepreneur. Skype offers video-calling and audio-calling with people from other countries free of cost. With increasing global investors, an entrepreneur can easily schedule Skype meetings and conferences to interact with them. Also, on the days an entrepreneur chooses not to go to office, he can send messages via Skype.

8. Expensify

All entrepreneurs want to maintain receipts of expenditure throughout a month for varied reasons. And, amidst all the pressure he’s under, it isn’t possible to physically maintain a log of all receipts. All you need to do is download Expensify and with your phone’s camera take pictures of your receipts as digital records stored in a chronological order. This app also lets you log mileage, meal expenses and other business-related travel costs.

3 attributes required to be a successful entrepreneur

By building up certain entrepreneurial abilities, you can guarantee that your future ventures will be successful.

An entrepreneur’s life revolves around taking risks and clocking long hours of work for a venture to be successful. Entrepreneurs cannot maintain a fruitful business if they haven’t invested any effort in learning significant life lessons about disappointment, oversights and development. No one is conceived prepared to be a business person – the best representatives adapted hard lessons that helped them accomplish their objectives. By building up certain entrepreneurial abilities, you can guarantee that your future ventures will be successful.

Three essential attributes entrepreneurs need to learn are:

1. Patience

Patience is an important virtue every entrepreneur must possess. However, it is also the most challenging to build. Often, entrepreneurs get lost in the haze of ideas and force things to evolve too quickly. This could result in hasty decisions and gradually, a failure. An entrepreneur needs to be grounded and focused and take careful weighed decisions.

However, staying too patient regarding your decisions could also result in failure. Don’t mistake patience as inactivity. Learn to be involved and engaged but not hasty.

2. Zeal

An entrepreneur needs to keep the zeal and enthusiasm alive in order to be successful. A lot of ventures could be deemed as unsuccessful from the very beginning. It is very important for an entrepreneur to not lose heart at these points and keep the drive going as failures are bound to occur. An entrepreneur needs to be hungry and devise more ways of moving forward. Also, one needs to believe in himself and try to accomplish the big goal, always.

3. Self-awareness

Self-awareness is a quality which every entrepreneur should bank upon. It is very easy to get lost in a haze of ideas and get overly attached to a single one so much so that you fail to see the flaws in your plan. An entrepreneur should be able to see the shortcomings in his idea and work towards converting them into positives. Having a very good idea about the market is very important for an entrepreneur because he needs to understand his customers well. Pay equal attention to your venture, clients, employees and your personal life.

If these three attributes are mastered by an entrepreneur, he is highly likely to be successful in his field because of the delicate but necessary balance that he will strike.