6 Reasons Why Entrepreneurship Is For You
We’re big supporters of small businesses and would actually like everyone to have the confidence to be an entrepreneur in at least some part of their lives. If you have a particular hobby or passion the time has never been better for you to start your own small business. It doesn’t even need to replace your full time job. Start small or part-time and great things could happen.
This year at Matoyana we’re celebrating entrepreneurship in Africa. There are such great things happening on our continent. While speaking to entrepreneurs from all walks of life, some key things came up when they talked about their business focus. Here are some of them:
#1 Passion before Money
If you really love doing something it will supersede the desire to make money. Money is not enough of a motivating factor if you don’t have that tenacious drive to keep “showing up” every day, working at the thing you’re passionate about. That’s not to say your business won’t be successful but the cash benefits are secondary to any true entrepreneur.
#2 Reliable Support Base
While most entrepreneurs are independent thinkers, something many of them have in common is a strong support base – a network of people who they trust to advise them on different areas of their start-up. Support bases can vary and include family, friends, small business advisers and even online groups created to chat about business strategy.
#3 Curious and Creative Instincts
Are you curious about the way the world works? Chances are you’re an entrepreneur at heart, looking for different ways to use your creative energy. There is a belief that many creatives are not great at business (which we talk about here) but that’s something that can be managed with a shift in self-belief and attention to good business practices.
4# Not Afraid of Hard Work
By hard work, we mean really hard work, for at least the first couple of years, particularly if you have a full time job to hold down at the same time. If you’re an early riser and can also burn the midnight oil when necessary, you’re half way there!
#5 Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
There’s not one small business owner that hasn’t felt immobilised by fear at one time or another, after all you’re doing something that no one else has done before. The trick is how you deal with it. And there are wonderful rewards to working through the fear, as Susan Jeffers says in her book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, ““As I began to do things on my own, I began to taste the deliciousness of an emerging self-confidence.” Failures or rejection are bound to happen, but if you can take responsibility for these without blaming yourself you’ll move on to entrepreneurial success more and more quickly.
#Giving Back
We’ve found a strong element of social consciousness in many of the entrepreneurs we’ve spoken to. So, if you find yourself thinking about ways of giving back or making a difference with your product or service you’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs find that through the journey of developing their small business, the element of giving back grows alongside it. The more you can create a win-win business the more successful an entrepreneur you’ll be.
For further business inspiration please contact: nokwazi@rocketpad.co.za
