Entrepreneurship is a glorified concept in today’s society. Every person who does something on his own for a living proudly says “I am an Entrepreneur”. An individual with a good fan following on any media platform likes to call himself an entrepreneur. These days, every other person on social media is an entrepreneur or they think they are. Almost all rely on the perception questions that they have heard or learned about entrepreneurs from school books, courses, or motivational speakers.
The most important question, people, who believe they are entrepreneurs, ask is, “Do I want to work for others my whole life, or do I want to work for myself?”. And the answer that comes out is yes “I want to work for myself”. The voice that makes them say yes to this perception question enforces the feeling within them that they are entrepreneurs. Again, they ask themselves if they want to make their own schedule or follow the schedule that others have made for them. Whether they want to live a life that they don’t need a break from. These are all perception questions that people have already kept an answer ready that would justify their perception of being and seeing an entrepreneur in themselves. However, it takes more than these questions and their answers to be an entrepreneur. There are certain reality questions that one needs to answer.
Entrepreneurship is not the easy way. It squeezes out every bit of energy in you. It really matters whether someone who sees himself or herself to be an entrepreneur would actually sacrifice his 24 hours a day into one thing he or she is passionate about, a thing that has not yet taken a shape, whose probability of success is still unclear. How would they value their daily routine? Whether they are ready to forego all pleasure and work day and night or they just want to work for 8 hours every day. Are they ready to take out every dime that is there in their account and risk losing it? These are the realities that come with entrepreneurship. Defending just the perception of something and not having the guts to face the reality is one of the indications if someone is meant to be an entrepreneur or not. Now, that does not mean that one cannot run a business or have something of their own. But I am talking about real entrepreneurship. Running a small shop and the desire of growing the number of shops taking risks are two different things. That’s why I said there is a difference between whether it is there within or it's just taken as an option.
I think entrepreneurship is something that is natural and is something that cannot be taught in any B-School or ignited through any motivation workshop or courses. Otherwise why not every big B-School graduate become an entrepreneur running successful companies? Many would not agree with this. There are textbooks by authors on how to be entrepreneurs and how to create entrepreneurs. There are skills and skill sets that can be taught to anybody. A person can have all the world’s wealth and finances to back his vision. But one thing that cannot be taught is how to get up and chase the vision and be ready to take the risk that comes behind the undertaking. It is difficult to teach someone to get up and work out plans if nobody is over the head to monitor. In entrepreneurship, one has to hold oneself accountable for whatever decision one takes. He cannot lookout for some sort of supervision from someone. Self-supervision is something that one either has or doesn’t. Just because someone in the vicinity is a dancer, you also want to become one. That is not an inborn entrepreneurial spirit.
Entrepreneurship is a trait that is innate. One must not look at entrepreneurship from a glamorous viewpoint. It’s quite difficult with all its stress. Even if things are not going out you have to keep going. Most quit in the way because entrepreneurship was taken up as an imposition. Because my father or mother is an entrepreneur, I too have to. Because everyone else in my society is an entrepreneur, I have to become one. This is perception. It is far from reality. We all have those moments when we think that we are going to do something and then we don’t end up doing it. This is because we lack the passion to hold on to what we dream. Individuals who are meant to be entrepreneurs are madly in love with their passion. If you see successful entrepreneurs, all had great traits and commonalities. They are passionate. Look at Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates, and Trump, they are passionate about building their businesses. They diversify, they acquire, they takeover. That is why Ambani, Adani, and Tatas have empires the world over. They have a vision for the future. Internet did not even penetrate India properly then, but, Anupam Mittal laid the foundation of online matchmaking. In a world full of several thousand cosmetics brands, Sugar Cosmetics is one of the names. Because Vineeta Singh knew she had it in her.
Entrepreneurs are never satisfied. That’s one of the other traits. If we search through the life stories of these entrepreneurs, we get to understand that they remain in search of the next quest. They have had this goal their entire lives, and then, when they reach it, they are like ok what’s the next thing. Average people around will be like it’s so amazing that I have achieved this. Now I can relax. And natural entrepreneurs will be like “I am looking for the next thing, the next thing, and the next thing”. Musk founded Zip2 and sold it to Compaq. That same year, he started X.com, then SpaceX, and then we all know the rest. Entrepreneurs are hard on themselves because they are never satisfied. They literally know how to make their own money. Whether it is selling a balloon or a computer, they have this trait of selling from a young age. Dhirubhai Ambani created Reliance Industries. He started doing all sorts of work. He worked as a clerk, sold petrol at a petrol pump, learned to trade, traded spices, entered into textiles, etc. before he finally shaped the behemoth Reliance Industries.
Someone who has in him to be an entrepreneur has a great curiosity to learn but at the same time, they hate the idea of being dictated to. They don’t want anyone telling them what to do. They never like the idea of someone planning the work schedule and telling them when to wake up or eat. It disgusts them to see that someone else controls how much they earn. Many great entrepreneurs felt suffocated being in jobs and quit because their imagination did not match their reality. They felt like missing out on the life that they were meant to live and that resonated so hard inside them. When one is meant to be an entrepreneur there are these tiny signs. One does not feel happy with the job one does. Because natural entrepreneurs dream big, they want to do the impossible, and they remain unhappy in their existing setup. If someone has good intuition of themselves, they get to realize their call early. When entrepreneurship is innate, even the universe starts sending clues. One may have all the qualifications, and expertise and may keep on trying and trying to get a job. All they will receive are rejections. Some may have no money at all but shall not break. Somehow their survival instincts will help them to make things possible. They will carve the way to what they believe they deserve.
Natural entrepreneurship is about passion, a dream to make big, never succumbing, seeing possibility in everything, and most importantly having the dare to take big risks. So start looking out for those traits in you. If you have it you can make it big.
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entrepreneurial spirit