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Some people say entrepreneurs are born, not
made. That's only partly true. Some people seem
to be entrepreneurs from birth. Sometimes the
entrepreneurial gene doesn't kick in until later
in life.
Whenever it happens there are ten golden rules
any prospective entrepreneur should obey. So get
a sheet of paper and let's get to work. Fill in
your qualifications under each heading and see
if there are areas that need working on.
1. Motivation. You must be clear about what you
want and why you want it. For example, it isn't
enough to say
'I want to make a lot of money'.
What do you want it for? How much do you want?
How soon do you want it? How determined to get
it are you?
2. Control. You must be prepared to take control
of your life. You decide when you work. You
decide where you work. (Work at home, or in the
car, or on the beach, etc.) You decide how many
hours, days, weeks you work. You decide how much
money you make.
3. Prepared to take risks. The life of the
entrepreneur is not risk free. Things can go
wrong - BUT - nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Learn when to quit and change direction and when
to hang in there and weather the storm. If one
path isn't the right one you can always take
another. The secret is to keep your eyes open
for new opportunities.
4. Resilient. This is very much linked to the
previous point. I want you to think of a tall
tree in a high wind. It might thrash about and
bend a bit in the gale but only rarely does it
break. Why do tall buildings like the Empire
State Building have a built in factor that
allows it to sway in the wind? Both these things
can survive intact because they are resilient.
They can react to the surrounding conditions and
more or less escape serious damage. If they were
absolutely rigid they would break under the
pressure. The entrepreneur has to be flexible to
deal with changes in the marketplace.
5. Enjoy a challenge. Being an entrepreneur is a
challenge. It has no place for the 'what ifs'.
(What if it all goes wrong? What if I don't make
any money? What if I'm a failure? What if the
sky falls on my head?' If you're a 'what if'
forget about being an entrepreneur and get
yourself a nice steady job.
6. Prepared to take the plunge. It's like
standing at the edge of the swimming pool when
you can't swim. Until you take the plunge you
will never learn. But every time you do it you
become more skilful and the easier it gets. Keep
at it and before long you will be diving in from
the highest board and coming up smiling.
7. Mix with the right people. There are always
people prepared to put you down. Unfortunately
these are often family or friends. This isn't
done out of malice, it's more from a
subconscious fear that somehow they'll be
'losing' you - that you are moving onto a
different plane. As far as you can you should
keep company with fellow entrepreneurs. Take
your family and friends with you if you can but
never neglect to have regular contact with
positive thinkers or you will be dragged back
into the daily drudge. Once you've shown that
you haven't evolved into some sort of snooty
conceited bighead your family and friends might
admit that they were wrong!
8. Open to new ideas. Entrepreneurs never
consider that they have reached the highest
peak. As soon as they have reached the top of
one project mountain they will look for another
one to climb. It's exactly the same adrenalin
surge that keeps mountaineers trying for ever
more difficult ways of climbing Everest. Others
might follow but the prize is to the people who
got there first.
9. Willing to learn from others. Be prepared to
learn about the skills you will need from other
successful entrepreneurs. Attend some of the
bootcamps that are organised. There is one
caveat here - don't become a bootcamp junkie!
There are some would-be entrepreneurs who go
from one bootcamp to another but never take the
plunge and try to put what they have learnt into
practice. In other words they keep going to the
swimming pool but never actually get into the
water.
10. Not content with one success. The true
entrepreneur never stops. Success isn't the
be-all and end-all. As I said before, when
he or she has reached the top of one mountain they
look for the next one to climb. It's enervating,
it's fun - and the view from the top is
fantastic.
Here's to your success!
About the Author:
Visit
http://www.darkhorsereserch.com or
http://www.percydale.com for more info. |
