Stop being a Wannabepreneur!
Dharmesh Shah from on Startups the guy behind hubspot has an extremely relevant post on taking that leap to become an entrepreneur. I believe there are two kinds of people, those who talk about doing things and watch other people do it and those that actually take action. Wannabeprenuers are those people who always wanted to be entrepreneurs but are afraid to take that first leap. The biggest fear being that of security and and stability in their career. To be an entreprenuer, the main thing you have to get over is your fear, and the only way to get over this is a belief in yourself and knowing that you will be able to make your business a success. The higher your fear for making this leap the more lacking your self belief is. Conquer your self belief and you will conquer the fear of taking that first step.
You have to realise that once you take that leap, you may have to hang in the air for a while and sometimes things may get difficult but you have to persevere and be motivated so you can reach the other rock. Building a business does not mean immediate overnight success, building a business takes many small incremental steps that constantly grows your business and adds value to your customers and users.
Dharmesh offers some tips to wannabeprenuers to help them with making that first step:
1. You’re probably overestimating the risk of leaving that BigCo job. Chances are, that sort of job (or something awfully similar) will be there a year from now if things go miserably.
2. Though nothing compares to doing your own thing, joining a startup team is not bad either. It’s a great way to dip your toes in the water. Often, half the battle is just getting out of your comfort zone and being around startup people.
3. Regardless of what your risk tolerance is, you can likely still find opportunities that are more entrepreneurial than what you’re doing now. There are startups with really high risk, with nothing but a dream and a developer (or two) all the way to startups that have raised several rounds of funding and are on the IPO path. You should be able to find a startup that meets your risk profile.
4. Unless you have some compelling evidence that things are going to get easier later to do something more entrepreneurial, chances are, they’re not (going to get easier). So, if the question is when, not if, then ask yourself “why not sooner, rather than later?”
5. For those that are thinking: ”Yeah, this is all easy for you to say, you’re not walking in my shoes”, I say this: You’re right. If you truly don’t have the situation or circumstances to take the leap, that’s ok. I just implore you to at least think about it and decide for yourself whether your obstacles are real or perceived.
P.S Stay tuned here for a programme to assist your with those small incremental steps you can take to start a business.
P.P.S Picture sourced from tricky at flickr under this Creative Commons license.
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There is a proverb in Nigeria that translate to the English equivalent that the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.
I quite agree with you that any serious minded person must take a step beyond just dreaming of becoming the next successful entrepreneur. Action is required, and without action the dream will just die UNBORN and UNSUNG! Nice points.