Taking the First Step Toward Entrepreneurship

There is no particular time slot for anyone to become an entrepreneur. One can become an entrepreneur at a young age of twenty or a later stage in life, say at 72. Age or season never matters. What matters is the passion, knowledge, and experience.

However, to start a business, there are certain principles or strategies. You should have gained an appreciable amount of knowledge and have non-reducing capital to start a business (some business may get started with less than US$ 100 too). Having some marketing experience, knowledge about in- and outs of cash flow and a brand-new idea would give the confidence to start a business right away.

Before getting into the detail, here are some of the traits of a successful entrepreneur.

Traits of a successful entrepreneur

Though each entrepreneur is unique from the other one, most of the entrepreneurs share certain common features. They are:

·        Self-motivated and self-starters

·        Confident and proud

·        Take calling the shots

·        Competitive in approach

·        Set deadlines and work for it

·        Negotiate as necessary

·        Remove things that do not work

·        Do not dwell in the past

·        Not afraid of burning the midnight oil

·        Actively involved in different things and ideas

These qualities of successful entrepreneurs would lead you to win the business through its ups and downs and sustain in the market for a longer period. Moreover, in this modern world, we can have a lot of exposure through digital space to create an impact within a short period, and all at lesser costs.

However, you cannot make a hasty decision to jump into a business because you hate your boss, you dislike your job, want to earn a hefty amount of money in a single-go, want a flexible work hour, want fame overnight, or other possessive reasons. These do not form strong reasons to start a business. Entrepreneurship is not a ‘quick fix’ for these problems. You should think like a business strategist, propose strategies, and execute them to see your business succeed.

So, how would you know that you are ready to start a business? Here are certain checklists that may help you find out that you can start a business right away.

Checklist to start a business right away

Explore the traits and analyze the situation based on hints given here. If your answer is ‘yes’ to all, then it’s your call to start the business right away.

Ask yourself

Ask yourself whether you have the right mindset to start a business. If you are in a desperation mode or recently faced a failure in the job and decided to start a business instead of looking for causes of job failure, then this is not the right time to start a business.

Professor William E. Jennings says that you should have perseverance, self-reliance, desire to take initiative, a strong will to achieve, self- confidence and good health to think of a business of your own.

Financial stability

Of course, it is not compulsory to quit your job to start a business. Keep your costs low and expenditure on important things. Accumulate 6-7 months of cash so that you can live on it if at all the situation turns so. Ensure that the monthly income covers all the expenses and you still have cash with you. Calculate the startup launching cost, determine your living expenses, what you can earn in a year and make a plan like a business strategist. Use your ‘extra-money’ in the business.

A strong network

Everyone loves, trusts, and supports people who give. Build a strong network where you can share market trends, send them some help like referring a talent, source of fund, etc. If possible, choose a business partner or co-founder who can align with the values and have unbreakable trust with you. Once you have a network to start with, hire people who are trustworthy, optimistic, detail-oriented, and ambitious. Stay resilient.

And here you go!

If your answer is ‘Yes’ for all these three situations, then it is the ripe time to start a business. It is the priority of your life now. Start building efficient marketing plans, incorporate technologies and latest tools, keep reading a lot, keep growing your network, and get committed to your new venture.

Once you start, you cannot slow down. Procrastination should not be in your diary. Make a conscious decision, trust your instincts, and keep moving forward.