Entrepreneurship is a very popular notion for many people around the world – and there are plenty of signs to suggest that it is only going to increase in popularity as time goes on, and the Internet and modern communications technologies shift the dynamics of the working world.
Though there are many people who really like the idea of living the life of an entrepreneur, far fewer actually fundamentally believe that they have what it takes.
Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but if you’re interested in being an entrepreneur there may be more options available to you than you would at first assume.
Here are some tips for becoming an entrepreneur, even if you don’t think you can.
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Try to leverage your experiences and knowledge into “skill stacks” that are unique to you
The first thing to keep in mind is that becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t require you to be a world-renowned expert in a particular field.
In fact, according to David Epstein, author of the book “Range,” the defining characteristic of a successful entrepreneur is more likely to be a broad range of skills, experiences, and insights rather than a high degree of specialisation.
Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comics, argues along the same lines that entrepreneurial success in general is driven by having good “skill stacks” for the most part.
So, think of ways to leverage your experiences and knowledge of different topics into “skill stacks” that are unique to you. It might be that you are just the right person to write A Step-by-Step Guide to Ford Transit Custom Double Cab, and that there might be an attentive audience looking for just such a thing.
The trick is to think of new ways of sticking together different skills and insights, so that you can offer something useful, and so that you can stand out from the crowd.
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Simply pick what seems like an interesting idea, and then get started
One of the key defining features of entrepreneurs is not that they are uniquely gifted when it comes to making business ideas work, but rather that they are comfortable with the process of experimenting and “failing forward” often – and then taking the lessons from each attempt and applying them to the next endeavour.
To begin your life as an entrepreneur, perhaps the first thing you should do is to simply pick whatever seems like an interesting idea, and to then get started.
Almost certainly the idea won’t “work out” in its first incarnation. But you will learn a lot more by taking action than you would by sitting around and hypothesising forever.
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Focus on establishing the right daily systems and routines first and foremost
Goals are useful in the right context, and when handled in the right way. But for an entrepreneur, there’s a good argument to be made that daily routines, habits, and “systems” are actually significantly more important.
Goals are ambitions – and it’s possible to hold a very lofty goal without ever really taking significant steps to move towards it.
By fostering productive daily habits and routines, though, you will be able to move a business idea forward consistently, and to accumulate learning experiences along the way.
