3 Things You Need To Know About Being An Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is a concept receiving plenty of attention in recent times thanks to stories like Facebook, UBER and Snapchat. In fact, entrepreneurs get so much attention these days it could even be argued they’ve got their own celebrity status! Unlike your movie and pop stars though, entrepreneurship isn’t something that’s reserved for an exclusive few.

There’s a saying that floats around, particularly in the sports arena: hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard. This applies to entrepreneurship too – whilst there are some incredibly talented people out there and countless amazing ideas, they all amount to nothing if hard work isn’t there to back them up. The good news is that hard work comes in the form of processes, approaches and skills that can be learnt by everyone. If you’re prepared to roll up your sleeves and put in the hard yards, you have the same chance of success as almost everyone else.

Entrepreneurship is a lot like art as well – mistakes are nothing to be scared of. I remember in high school I was told to embrace mistakes in my drawings (there were plenty of them!) as it would give me another opportunity to think creatively as well as add another element to the work. So long as you learn from the situation and make a positive next step, mistakes are, in fact, good things. Once you learn from them you’ll be closer to your end goal and you’ll consider things you previously haven’t – a very important thing when it comes to being successful.

Beyond this, as your entrepreneurial skills develop you’ll get to a point where mistakes actually become opportunities – the same way a glue that didn’t work very well, a mistake became the key ingredient to the billion-dollar Post-It Note!

Yes, you will make mistakes, but no, it really doesn’t matter!

Being an entrepreneur is about a mindset, an approach and a set of disciplines that can be harnessed by anyone. Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurship is not about mystical light-bulb moments or genius epiphanies. It’s about looking at the world in a particular way and being committed to the fact that there is a creative way to solve that problem or address that opportunity. It’s about not being afraid to think outside the box, or in fact, decide there isn’t a box at all! It’s about utilising tools and templates such as the Business Model Canvas to ensure you’ve got all bases covered with a concept, Blue Ocean Strategy to find opportunities others are missing or Pitcherific to get all the details of how to deliver the best pitch. The same way that musicians use samples of other pieces to get started, artists take inspiration from natural formations, or athletes use training aids, entrepreneurs also utilise tools – the same tools you can use too!