Becoming an entrepreneur is something that has crossed everyone’s mind at some point. And the truth is that anyone can be an entrepreneur, although, frankly, not everyone should set out on this path. Some people lack enough motivation, and others decide to become entrepreneurs for the wrong reasons. Others simply expect the road to be easier than it is, while some believe it will be much harder than it really is, and so they never try.
At the end of the day, being an entrepreneur means putting our skills and knowledge to work in a business of our own instead of depending on a job working for someone else. Maybe entrepreneurship is a calling, or maybe it is a profession like any other, in which case there are requirements we need to meet. But what are those requirements? What do we need to become entrepreneurs? Let’s start with what you don’t need.
You don’t need a university degree, let alone one in business management. In fact, you don’t need any experience in running or managing a company. You don’t need to be rich, come from an upper-class family or have rich friends. You don’t need to be a genius, or even to have stood out at school, because no particular education is required to be an entrepreneur. You don’t even need an above-average IQ. And most importantly, to be an entrepreneur you don’t need anyone’s permission.
Still, any of those qualities or advantages you may have “as standard” can certainly help when it comes to putting entrepreneurship into practice.
See also: The best advice 9 successful business people ever received
So… what does it take to be an entrepreneur?
Much of business failure comes from the business owner giving up. The same product, the same service and the same market can see us go under while our competitor takes over the market. Is it a matter of luck? Was our competitor’s owner blessed by some saint? Of course not. He was simply better than us, which is why he won and we lost (like France and Spain).
You don’t have to be clever, but you do need to be able to adapt. You don’t need a degree, but you will have to study and keep up to date in your sector. You don’t have to be a born strategist, but you do need to be able to work out strategies to beat your competition. Constant preparation and a lot of work.
Few business owners are willing to work hard. Many people decide to start a business because they are tired of working and would like some peace and quiet. That is starting a business for the wrong reasons: if you are not willing to work hard, the business will not get off the ground.
You need passion for what you do because, as we have said before, doing something you love means the hours you put into the business don’t weigh on you.
Drive is another quality an entrepreneur must have, because a long race is not won by the fastest runner but by the one who keeps running when everyone else stops or slows down. Great entrepreneurs always have that force that constantly pushes them to discover, invent and improve.
We can see it in large, established companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft and Coca-Cola. These companies never stop working, innovating, changing and discovering, and that drive is what ends up leading to success.
The will and ability to do the work, the strength to withstand the headwinds that will come, and a positive mindset to face the extreme situations that will arrive. All of this could be summed up in a single virtue or ability: working very hard and learning something new every day, being willing to make an initial sacrifice, and being ready, if you fall, to get back up quickly. That would be the start.
Some will think that Page and Brin (Google), like Zuckerberg (Facebook), were born to be entrepreneurs, when in reality, at first glance, they did not have the qualities needed to be one (at least if we go by the usual stereotypes).
Zuckerberg intended to finish his degree and go to work for some big American company. Although this has rarely been discussed, we suspect that one of his dreams would have been to work at Microsoft. He did not have an entrepreneurial character. We don’t know where Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) wanted to work, but they didn’t have that supposed entrepreneurial character either, since they tried to sell the search engine on several occasions. As nobody wanted to buy it, they had to keep working on it. I’m sure they never imagined what Google is today.
Further reading
- The mindset of an entrepreneur: Donald Trump
- 15 questions to evaluate your business idea before you start
- Donald Trump’s advice for entrepreneurs
- Advice for entrepreneurs from Guy Kawasaki
- Our 17 best articles for entrepreneurs
Featured image: Takuya Oikawa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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