According to the
Business Dictionary “Entrepreneurship is the capacity and willingness to
develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in
order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the
starting of new businesses. In economics, entrepreneurship combined with land, labor natural resources and capital can produce profit. Entrepreneurial
spirit is characterized by innovation and risk-taking, and is an essential part
of a nation’s ability to succeed in an ever changing and increasingly
competitive global market.”
Entrepreneurs
are generally considered to the people who possess super powers and thus
outshine the mediocre, which is a clear myth. There are no special qualities to
be an Entrepreneur, it is all about taking a step back, looking within and thus
discovering the Entrepreneurship qualities that have already been packed into
all the humans by the omnipresent. At this moment there are a number of people
who want to see themselves as successful entrepreneurs in a while but the fact
is that very few of these actually survive till the end. The whole journey of
becoming an entrepreneur isn't about aiming to become a successful entrepreneur
but it is about the desire to become an entrepreneur and staying true to the
goal in all possible circumstances.
Talking about
the business venture, there are a number of books and audio programs available
in the market which talk about the basic requirements for a person to set off
on one of these ventures. People generally believe that without the basic
prescribed means it is impossible to become an entrepreneur; they invest a lot
of energy in getting all the told prerequisites and moving towards the flagged
starting point. In my opinion or rather in accordance with the statistical data
available after analyzing a number of existing entrepreneurs like Mark
Zuckerburg there is practically no need to spend time in acquiring all the
means externally; rather one should assess what one already possesses and
evaluate the potential of the available means. The basic means that are
practically essential are the ones he already has: his identity, his desire to
become an entrepreneur and existing contacts. There is seriously no need to
move towards the flagged start point because there actually doesn't exist one
and even if it appears to be one, believe me it is just that lethargic part of
your brain trying to delay things. In fact the point at which you are totally
aware of all that you have and take a decision to jump into the suit of an
entrepreneur is your starting point; wait don’t get me wrong when I talk about
the suit of an entrepreneur, what I mean is when you turn yourself into an
Entrepreneur even your very own normal suit transforms into that of an entrepreneur’s.
Now once again,
there is a certain philosophy that talks about life to be full of high and low
tides and if one wants to make a progressive beginning he should wait for the
right tide and only then make a start. I am neither going to criticize this
statement nor going to support it whole heatedly I would just say that
jumping into a storm is no doubt a fatal idea; but at the same time waiting for
the right current is also a feeble idea; the right level of tide may never
appear as the person who starts assessing the wave pattern will find faults in
all of them and when he does realize
that the former was a better one it
actually turns out to be too late. A person who wants to thus sail his ship of
entrepreneurship must set his sail right away without giving things much of
thoughts.
Various people
talk about making a plan and then working in accordance with it, which would
require a number of things to be acquired externally. It’s like reading a
particular recipe, buying all the ingredients and then moving ahead to make the
pie. When a person makes a stand to become an entrepreneur it is important for
him like I’ve mentioned before to begin with what all he already has. So this
would appear to be like making a note of all the ingredients one has and then
deciding the recipe accordingly, deciding what could be prepared from the
available means and finally coming up with a delicious dish. Now this shouldn’t
be misunderstood to be shooting an arrow in the dark because here drafting the
plan is not the first step but it is the second step after knowing the
available means. Let me elaborate on this particular point, I’m talking about
channelizing the existing means into a right direction after knowing the
potential of the existing means and thus drafting out a short term plan with a
long term vision to get the best possible outcome. A long term vision is the
one which involves visualizing a possibility that is way more desired than the
present scenario; also vision is the power to bring this particular
visualization to reality by consistency and commitment in one’s work. The plan
that I’ve stated is a short term one because the external atmosphere changes at
such an oscillating rate that sticking to one long term plan is something only
a fool would do. Thus the right idea is to like I’ve said before to have a
futuristic vision; and have short term plans which should be revised, modified
or even completely changed in accordance with the changing circumstances.
Let me sight the
example of Richard Branson, the founder of virgin airlines. Neither did he have
any set goals nor an action plan to act upon; all he did was that he began with
all the means he already had and managed to find Virgin Records and Virgin
Airlines before Virgin Galatic. He is the one who has initiated commercial
space travel in spite of the fact that he was dyslectic as a child. Once again
this might appear to be contradictory to the statement which states that an
entrepreneur is the one who has a mission in life and also possesses a powerful
vision to foresee the future. But let me clear it out, having a mission in life
is a very broad term and hence has a broad spectrum too. A person with a life
mission holds that particular mission close to his heart and moves ahead
keeping it in his mind. No matter what kinds of situations arise he always acts
in accordance with his mission and lives up to it. Moving over to vision,
foreseeing the future is something no man can ever do in the world of business,
it can only be roughly estimated via certain statistical calculations. A true
entrepreneur is the one who keeps his eyes open and has a vision that keeps him
moving forward no matter what.
People often say
that just because a person came up with a unique idea he has become successful
and it was a rare hunch; once again a myth; the fact is that a number of people
get various ideas and only a few of them are actually able to execute them into
a successful business venture. Also, we many a time come across entrepreneurs
who take up a very common business idea and turn it into a more successful
business venture than the others This
sum up to basically two options when it comes to ideas, either one must begin
with a unique idea so that he automatically stands out or present a very common
idea in such a way that you succeed to get a good business. Creator of Apple
inc Steve Jobs should be held as an ideal when it comes to business ideas.
One of the
teachings given by your granny: you were told that you mustn’t aim to be better
than the others or compete with others but you must constantly try to be better
than what you were before and hence compete with thyself, she told us that one
mustn’t compete with the others and only work towards enhancing ones very own
potential to achieve success. This is actually a very idealistic way but In the
world of entrepreneurship it is important to introspect oneself and to move
ahead towards a progressive self being and at the same time keep an eye on the
market and make sure that you don’t lack in any of the aspects when compared
with the others. Do you not wonder why Nokia was not able to sustain his
business in the present scenario when and earlier 60% of the world mobile
business was under them.
The most
important thing for any Entrepreneur seems to make a big hit; that is to get
maximum profit; but this aim will only make him paralysed and prevent him from
taking any decision at all; instead the initial venture should be such that the
Entrepreneur should aim at making affordable losses. Only when one decides the
amount of loss that is affordable for him he gets the courage to make giant
leaps and this ultimately takes him towards his progress.
Darwin´s law of
“Survival of the fittest” is closely applicable in the world of Entrepreneurs,
one has to make an effort to stand strong come what may. Entrepreneur should be
a committed person, he must take complete responsibility of all the decisions
that he takes even if the outcome turns out to be not a desired one. He should
have the heart to commit his mistakes and also go all the way to set things
right. On a broader perspective a number of resources, human lives, employees,
technology, R&D team, inter dependent service provider, government revenues
are all inter dependent. He should have the power to take full charge of all
the situations good or bad,he just cannot be a quitter or a runaway kid, he has
to be prepared to face all the ups and downs that arise and also have the
courage to face the challenges that appear. After all there isn’t any success
story without an interesting set of ups and downs.
On a broader
perspective a nation’s strength very much depends upon the quality of the entrepreneurs
it possesses, it depends upon how inherent entrepreneurs are doing. He himself
is a wealth creator and provides services, products that may be tangible or
intangible. When an Entrepreneur rises up he creates an opportunity for a
number of others to join him in his venture; the direct terminology would be
that he is an employment creator. Thus apart from a commitment that he holds to
himself he also owes to the ones who work along with him. In a country like
India Entrepreneurship should be highly encouraged as it ultimately leads to
the development of our nation. Though the Indian mindset is such that anything
apart from being a Doctor or an Engineer is a crime it is time that the youth
works towards changing this so that the people develop a broader vision. On a
lighter note Varun Agarwal, Writer of “How I braved Anu Aunty and others” and
the founder of ”Alma Mater”, one of the youngest Entrepreneurs constantly
highlights the pointless opposition by the Indian parents against anything that
is different, no doubt he does have to face terrible consequences for sharing
his views so openly. Anyways, India needs youngsters to make a stand and give
all that they can to this developing nation.
Walking with the
flow is something that everyone does but there are very few who actually take a
stand and turn about to walk along the direction of their inner voice which
often takes them in a direction opposite to that of the flow. Moving against
the stream is no doubt a tough job and the person who does it has to have the
courage. It is pretty obvious that the person will get chocked up by the
gushing of the flow but only the one who is able to fight this resistance will
ultimately be able to stay firm to his will is the one who survives ultimately.
Thus, Entrepreneurship is all about the ability to take a stand and rise up to
move about in accordance with what your heart has to say. After all, Entrepreneurship is all about being cool and happening in life.
