So you can become an entrepreneur with at least 5 working fingers
Last month I was invited to give a lecture. As part of the lecture, among other things, I spoke about the requirements and mental resources I needed to develop to become an entrepreneur.
I was not born with these skills, nor were they taught at school, university, or home. The main difference between me and my former classmates or colleagues was and remains my primary motivation: the desire to develop and grow personally and professionally. Based on my experience as an entrepreneur and my work with serial entrepreneurs, I focus on five crucial aspects. These features are interrelated and interdependent.
What are the other 5 aspects of core entrepreneurship?
1. Creating a vision and believing in it
The meaning of creating a vision, an image of the project/product/idea, is not only so you would have something you can conceive and dream about (though it is an essential part of it). When you imagine what you want to create, you can describe the vision to the world and harness your team, investors, and yourselves in your plan.
A vision will enable you to believe; the more precise the picture, the more we can trust that it is possible. This faith will carry us on our path, even if it’s full of hills and thorns. Your spirit will not fall when you fail for the first, second, or third time.
After the third one, it might be necessary to rethink your execution/product/ target audience and pivot. But through it all, your vision will be a power source. You will not stop or give up easily because, in your mind and inner eye, you will see the idea in full fruition, just waiting to be materialized by your five fingers (or 10).
2. Diligence, persistence, and patience: I combine these qualities because, on the one hand, only diligence and persistence can aid you in building a new business or forming a breakthrough technology. Still, some things are beyond our control, and there is a natural rhythm to certain aspects. Their inherited nature needs time, and all diligence and persistence will not help us move forward. Therefore, on the other side of diligence and persistence, we must be patient, take a deep breath, and wait. It takes a lot of time to build a product or a new business and even more time to reach the target audience and figure out the strategy to generate a loyal customer base. The road is full of challenges, and success is full of failures. Most entrepreneurs have failed many times, if not hundreds of times, until the moment they experience “success. Developing patience and appreciation for the path itself is critical to growing as an entrepreneur, which leads me to the next point.
3. Mental resilience to failure and emotional management
Many people experience failure. How we share it and what we do with it differentiates an entrepreneur from someone who fails. Successful entrepreneurs fail most of the time. They know it’s part of the process and usually learn more from failure than success. The key is how we frame our failure between ourselves. Emotional management is acute because failure leads to disappointment, anger, and guilt, paralyzing us from taking further steps that can move us forward.
Mental flexibility for failure and emotional management lead us to develop perseverance and resilience. A clear example and a famous quote: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison failed to invent the light bulb 10,000 times before he found a way to make a light bulb that worked.
Mental flexibility enables us to reframe failure, allowing us to look at it from different angles and discover what we can do differently/ better. This leads us to our subsequent aspect, adaptability and creativity.
4. Adaptability, creativity, and brainstorming (other people’s viewpoints)
These qualities have been discussed thoroughly in the last decade. We live in a constantly changing world and must stay relevant as entrepreneurs. That is why we need to adapt fast to the market and new technologies, but this is only one equation element.
If you are trying to solve a problem that you created or encountered, there is a chance that you are too emotionally close to the issue, and it will be difficult for you to “get out of the box.”
This problem is exacerbated for people who are experts in a specific field because their definitions and terms revolve around one field of knowledge. Therefore, the ability to dialog with others, present the issue, and get additional perspectives from people with different experiences and expertise can shorten your path to a solution.
Eventually, you will build a team of trusted advisors. But in the case of the unlikely scenario of a deserted island. Conjure in your mind an individual you value (my nephew envisions Pele, the soccer player ) and consider how this character would behave in your current situation. Whenever my nephew plays soccer, he discusses his strategy with Pele (He is seven years old).
5. Bravery and uncertainty
Most people don’t dare to quit their job, whether it’s comfortable or rewarding. The most prevalent reason is usually the fear of failure because if someone assured them that they would succeed, they would all become self-employed and have thriving businesses.
When you’re not afraid of failure or have experienced it dozens of times alongside increasing challenges, it becomes easier to take a leap of faith and go after your dream.
The actual challenge lies on the other side of the decision. Building the endurance to live with uncertainty is acute for an entrepreneur. Beyond that, you can and should make what-if scenarios and plans (B and C). These backplanes keep the feelings of uncertainty under management.
We set an example for the next generation. My niece, at the age of 16, initiated a food drive for families in need. This program has been running for three years (tens of thousands of families get donations during the holidays), and she stated she owed it to the example set by my sister’s social activity and generosity.
If you are interested in growing your skills and plan your next steps as an entrepreneur you can contact me on any platform
Nathalie Gabriel 