Being an entrepreneur is like entering uncharted territory. It’s rarely obvious what to do next, and you can only rely on yourself.
You have to be able to deal with the emotions that accompany this journey, similar to a wild ride on a roller coaster. For an entrepreneur, success often boils down to one thing. Sure, you can have the idea, the talent, the financial backing and the work ethic, but if you do not have a positive mindset, you can fail before you even start.
Entrepreneurship starts at the intersection of a lucrative opportunity and an enterprising individual. You will constantly face new challenges and opportunities. You will also need to constantly acquire new knowledge and develop different skills to grow your business and grow as a person. It is very important that you do not get scared and give up on realizing your goals.
Entrepreneurial personality and mindset
You can give people excellent business education, but that does not create businesses, and it does not create social enterprises either. Entrepreneurship is more than an academic discipline. It is about understanding who you are and who you are not. It’s about recognizing your strengths and weaknesses and having the humility to know that you cannot do it all.
Innovation starts with mindset and everything that comes from it.
We are all entrepreneurial to a certain extent. But the real challenge is building on what we already have and expanding it. Entrepreneurial people are known for using a unique mix of skills, methods, behaviors, and personal attributes to make ideas happen. Entrepreneurs do not think about a spare parachute or plan B when embarking on an independent business journey. This does not mean they do not think about failure at all. It only means they believe in success more than 100%.
Entrepreneurs are not only leaders for the organization but also for the people. Both leaders and entrepreneurs must have a growth mindset and must be prepared for the inevitable. The path to a growth mindset is a lifelong journey, not a mere proclamation. It takes great effort to develop it, and it will always be a struggle not to fall into a fixed mindset.
Problem-solving dilemmas
In our personal and professional lives, we face many problems. Sometimes these problems are not easy to solve. But solving them should not always be scary. Problems are scary when we do not have the means to solve them. They are scary when we do not believe in ourselves and when we do not know what we are doing.
We are not actually scared of the problem itself, but rather of the unknown.
Problems come in all shapes and sizes and can be our common denominator. Our choice then lies in how we approach each challenge with a solution-oriented framework. Looking at problems not as scary things but as opportunities for success allows entrepreneurs to flex their creative and innovative muscles and really showcase what they have to offer.
Problem-solving is not some skill that you are born with. It isn’t something you inherit. It is a skill that you have to work on. There is no problem in the world that cannot be solved through innovation and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a journey full of problems, entrepreneurs are natural problem solvers, and progress is all about solving problems.
The hard part is finding problems to solve. For most problems, solutions are actually relatively easy to find, not for every problem, but for the majority of them. Too many people think that you have to solve things in a really complicated way. They always want to feel like they are working on one of the most challenging problems in the world. Do not be afraid to have simple solutions to simple problems. It turns out that a simple problem can become very complicated on a large scale. And that is what is really exciting.
Entrepreneurial lifestyle and work ethic
Entrepreneurship is the desire of many. Almost everyone at least sometimes wishes to be able to go out on their own, express their ideas, and be independent of their employer. However, the mere desire is not enough to go in this direction. If you are a person who likes peace, routine and established patterns, entrepreneurship is definitely not for you.
Entrepreneurs have a distinctive lifestyle, so it is important to be aware of how it differs from the lifestyle of those who are employed for regular 8 hours. Many entrepreneurs work much more than someone who is regularly employed. Especially at the beginning of the journey, working during the weekends is something common. Despite the fact that you will invest a lot of your time and effort in something, there is no guarantee that it will pay off in the end. Entrepreneurship is, therefore, very unpredictable. You never know what to expect when you take the next step.
Hard work, effort and hustle are the only things you can really control. They are the only variable. You can’t control the economy, your finances directly (only indirectly), marketing algorithms, consumers, customers, the marketplace etc., but you can always control your effort. You can work as much or as little as you want as an entrepreneur. It is important to make a paradigm shift and stop looking at the time and work in a linear way, where you get rewarded for a certain amount of time in the work you invest.
Entrepreneurs put in as many hours and effort as it takes to achieve their dream and big vision. They do whatever it takes to build what they want to build.
This article was originally published as Chapter 2, "Mindset, Problem-Solving & Work Ethics," in the Improving Entrepreneurial Journey initiative (IEJI), 1st Edition, Brochure Vol. 1 (2022). Adapted for the OPTIMOD Resource Center.
