After having an opportunity of conversing with a crowd of college students recently, I have come to realize that the “entrepreneurship is cool” trend has been successful in prevailing through the years. I believe that following the trend has made most of them go wrong while taking the crucial decisions of their life. Most of them don’t seem to know what it is about and what it entails until they get into it.
Everybody wants to be their own bosses and feel happy with the misconception that building a brand or a business takes only 2–3 years of time. With none of them deciding on being an entrepreneur for the right reasons, here are the best ways to test yourself and know if entrepreneurship is for you.
The most important thing is to know what kind of entrepreneur you are. You either belong to the lot that can come up with an idea but are somehow unable to run a business or the lot that can execute an idea and successfully run the business. Entrepreneurs belonging to the first one always end up looking for a co-founder and it’s crucial to determine whether you need one or you don’t.
The second most important thing is to analyze your idea. What is it and how do you work on it to make something huge out of it. Every idea must be passion-driven, something that makes you want to leave behind all the physical and mental barriers that stop you from achieving it. Maintaining a long term vision for your brand is an absolute necessity. It is not wise to be carried away by an idea that is “in” presently with not a great future. Entrepreneurship is not for those who wish to make a “quick buck”.
Coming up with an idea that sounds good is easy but ask yourself whether it’s practical. The only thing I keep saying to those looking forward to being an entrepreneur is that don’t fall in love with your idea.
The last thing that is a must-know is who your customers are. Analyze your audience, research as much as you can about who they are and what do they want. There might a really great idea that has struck your mind but it would be of no use if the customer doesn’t respond to it in a particular manner. Every business is a fail till the time the customers begin to find it interesting. Understanding their interests, need, price-sensitivity is the crux of every new business.
Mastering the three things that I have mentioned can help me be a good entrepreneur. Everything else can be learned over a period of time. I believe that failure is a part of entrepreneurship on a daily basis. So if you nail everything else and aren’t too moved by the smaller daily failures and what people think about you.
Take the ownership and the responsibility of your business and have a bit of a thick skin as if you don’t, you’d never be able to make your decisions that you can trust.