Entrepreneurship is not an easy feat. As an entrepreneur, you are bound to face several challenges and setbacks on your entrepreneurial journey. And if you are not fully prepared, you may give up on the way due to these obstacles. This is why this article “Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship” has been written to guide you on your journey.
Here, everything you need to know about entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur will be discussed.
At the end of this article, you should be armed with enough knowledge to courageously go on your entrepreneurial journey.
So, let’s get right into it by first explaining what entrepreneurship is all about.
Meaning of Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship in simple terms refers to the act of starting up a business.
Typically, entrepreneurs start up new businesses by identifying market gaps and then coming up with services or products that can be used to fill that gap.
The main focus of entrepreneurship is generating profits by addressing people’s needs.
An entrepreneur is also responsible for the business they set up.
This responsibility covers both the profits and risks of the business.
Entrepreneurship Vs Small Business – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship and small business have a lot in common but they are not necessarily the same.
A small business is typically an established business.
Entrepreneurship on the other hand mostly deals with new ventures and innovative or experimental products.
However, both of these concepts are similar in a lot of ways.
They both serve people in society in a bid to make profits.
Therefore, everything that will be shared in this article applies to both entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Benefits of Entrepreneurship
There are so many benefits of entrepreneurship.
These benefits are what make the entrepreneurial journey a whole lot easier for entrepreneurs.
When faced with the challenges and stress that come with entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs can look ahead and see themselves enjoying these benefits if only they can overcome the obstacles on their way.
These benefits more often than not make all the hard work and effort worthwhile in the end.
The following are some of the many advantages you stand to enjoy as an entrepreneur:
- You get to be your own boss
- Your destiny is in your hands
- You’ll live an exciting and adventurous life
- You get to contribute to making your community and even the world at large a better place
- Because your growth and success are in your hands, you will feel motivated to keep pushing on until you attain your goals
- You decide how much you earn
- Your schedule is yours to make
- You get to help people
Goals of Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Two common goals most entrepreneurs share are profit-making and solving the needs of their consumers.
But there are several other goals of entrepreneurship other than these two major ones.
And one entrepreneur’s goal for embarking on entrepreneurship oftentimes varies from the goals of another entrepreneur.
Some may be into entrepreneurship because of the freedom it offers while others may be in it just for the fun of it.
Some others may be entrepreneurs because they have a burning need to effect a change in their community.
So, do you see? The goals of entrepreneurship are so many.
This is why you have to take your time and decide what your goal is before you start your entrepreneurial journey.
Your goal has to be genuine and specific.
Know that your goals go a long way in determining how successful you will be as an entrepreneur.
Therefore, do not go into entrepreneurship for the wrong reason.
If you do so, you may find it difficult to stay motivated and determined in the face of difficulty.
Risks of Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Risks are one of the downsides of entrepreneurship.
And as an entrepreneur, you are responsible for whatever risks your business encounters.
The risks you take are often based on several factors including the type of business you are running, you, and circumstances you encounter as you run your business.
But you need to be comfortable with taking risks if you are to succeed as an entrepreneur.
However, the risks you take have to be calculated and properly analyzed.
Since risk-taking goes hand in hand with entrepreneurship, there are some common entrepreneurship risks that entrepreneurs may encounter regardless of their industry or niches.
Below are some of these entrepreneurship risks.
Financial Risk
Perhaps one of the most common risks almost every entrepreneur assumes is financial risk.
Starting a business often requires capital.
And depending on the type and size of the business, the capital may be large.
Sometimes, entrepreneurs use their personal money to fund their businesses.
They do this with the hope that they will generate more capital for their business from external sources like crowdfunding and investors.
And once they establish their business, they will be able to reap their investment in multiple folds.
Execution Risk
Entrepreneurs typically have to be responsible for every part of their business.
This is especially true during the budding stage of the business.
This means that they are also charged with the responsibility of building a strong and proficient team of partners and staff to carry out the plans needed to take the company forward.
Execution risk, therefore, refers to the entrepreneur’s ability to carry out the above responsibility.
It also means the entrepreneur’s ability to properly implement their business idea.
It is a risk in the sense that if they do not assemble a great team or do a great job of executing their idea, the business may suffer because of this.
Demand Risk
An entrepreneur takes on demand risk because they do not know how willing their customers would be to buy their products or pay for their services.
Technology Risks
Some businesses take on technology risks if their products have to go through certain scientific research, development, or engineering.
If the research, development, or engineering is not successful, the entrepreneur has to bear the costs regardless.
Tips to Help You Become a Successful Entrepreneur – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
When it comes to entrepreneurship, you often create your path.
Due to this, there isn’t a one size fits all success recipe that every entrepreneur can do to become successful.
However, the majority of successful entrepreneurs often share similar traits and practices.
Below, some of these traits and practices will be discussed.
1. Do Not Go into Entrepreneurship for the Wrong Reasons
There are so many reasons people go into entrepreneurship.
But some of these reasons are wrong.
When you start your entrepreneurial journey for the wrong reasons, you may not be able to continue on the path when it gets tough.
So, before you start as an entrepreneur, look for a need and then come up with a means to meet that need.
At this point, your focus should be on meeting that need.
Yes, making profits and success is a major reason to go into entrepreneurship.
However, these alone will not be enough motivation for you to scale through the challenges and difficulties that come with entrepreneurship.
But your dedication to solving a problem or meeting a need coupled with the thought of success and profit will be a strong motivational force.
2. Execution is Very Important
How you execute your business idea is a vital part of success.
It is easy to come up with an idea, but, most times, implementing that idea may be very difficult.
This is why you need to take your execution very seriously.
If you are the first business to ever bring a product or service to the market and you execute your business well, you stand to enjoy many benefits.
For starters, you will always be top of the competition.
Other people that will emulate your idea will simply be playing catch up with you.
Your brand recognition will be top-notch and people will often attribute the market product or service to your brand.
But this can only be achieved if you execute your great idea properly .
3. Learn to See Failure Differently – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
The most successful entrepreneurs failed a couple of times before they became successful; take Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Walt Disney, and many more as examples.
The reason these entrepreneurs still became successful despite their failures is that they found a way to reinvent failure.
They did not see failure as the end but as a learning tool.
If want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you have to learn to see failure differently.
You need to condition your mind to learn from your failures rather than letting them get the better of you.
Always have it at the back of your mind that you only fail when you give up.
If you do not give up, then there is always a chance to succeed.
It is normal to make mistakes and even fail at something.
What is not normal as an entrepreneur is giving up because of your failure and mistakes rather than learning from them.
Read this article about learning from mistakes.
4. Become Comfortable with Uncertainty and Taking Risks – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship in essence is journeying into unknown territory.
You have no idea what you will meet on your journey.
Therefore, to be successful on your journey, you have to become comfortable with uncertainty.
If you are scared of the unknown, you most likely will never make it big as an entrepreneur.
Another thing you need to be comfortable with is risk-taking.
Risk is an integral aspect of entrepreneurship.
And your success as an entrepreneur is more often than not tied to the risks you are willing to take.
When you take bigger risks, the profit you stand to gain will also be bigger.
This is why you need to become a risk-taker.
However, as much as you need to take risks to be successful, learn to take calculated risks.
Before putting it all on the line, be sure to always do your due diligence.
Analyze the risk and be sure it is worth taking before you go all in.
How To Generate Funds for Your Business – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Part of the things holding many people back from starting their entrepreneurial journey is funding.
But the truth is that great entrepreneurial ventures typically do not lack funding.
All you need to do is have a great idea, know how to properly communicate your idea and vision, have strong execution, and you will easily find a means to raise funds for your business.
There are several business funding strategies.
So, you simply need to find the one that suits you best.
Below are some of the most common business funding strategies available to you.
Venture Capital and Small Business Loans
These options can get you a lot of money for your business.
However, the strings attached to them are equally big.
If you decide to get a small business loan, you would be required to give the lending institution a clear and well-detailed business proposal.
Venture capital on the other hand provides funding for ideas that have the potential for fast, massive growth.
Sadly, only a handful of entrepreneurs often fit the bill for VC funding.
And those that even have what is required would have to give up some control and profit of their business.
Bootstrapping
This is just a fancy word for self-funding.
When you bootstrap your business, you would be funding the business with your personal savinngs.
Agreed this may not be suitable for a lot of entrepreneurs; especially those with a heavy-capital business idea or those that do not have a stash of personal funds somewhere.
However, bootstrapping comes with a lot of advantages.
You also get to keep control of every aspect of your business.
But, because you would be self-funding your business, you most likely will prefer to keep the costs low.
This would result in the business growing at a steady and sustainable pace; as opposed to fast, massive growth.
But several successful businesses started this way.
So, it’s not like you’d be the first to go down this path or that your chances of success would reduce because you bootstrapped your business.
If they could do it, you can too.
Visit here to learn more about bootstrapping.
Crowdfunding – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Crowdfunding is a new funding strategy that offers several benefits.
With crowdfunding, you can get funding for your business from potential users, fans, and well-wishers.
You won’t have to give up any control of your business and your equity will also be secured.
This option also allows you to connect with your potential consumers even before your business is launched.
You get to put your brand out there with the hope that your branding, mission statement, and content will draw potential customers and backers.
So, it’s a great way to promote your business while raising capital for it as well.
Crowdfunding is also a great way to validate your business idea.
If your idea is good enough, your crowdfunding backers will tell you this by paying to fund the idea.
However, because you are not offering your crowdfunding backers some control over your business in any way, you need to offer them something at least.
What you offer does not necessarily need to be something big.
It could be as simple as early-bird access to the product once it launches, or a discount.
You just need to look for an incentive that will appeal to your target audience.
The good thing is that there are several crowdfunding sites available to entrepreneurs.
Therefore, it should not be difficult getting one that would suit your needs.
Silent Partner – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
A silent partner is somewhat comparable to a venture capital firm.
This is because a silent partner is a partner that is willing to invest significant money into your business with the hope of getting a significant return.
But this is where the similarity ends between a silent partner and a venture capital backer.
Unlike a venture capital backer, a silent partner does not want to be involved with the business decisions in any way.
They typically do not have any say in how you decide to run your business.
All they want is their return on investment at the end of the day.
Therefore, this is a suitable option if you want to get significant funding without having to give up control decisions in your business.
Special Programs – Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Several special programs out there help entrepreneurs launch their business and succeed at it.
For example, there are several government grants you can apply for and get to fund your business.
You just need to do your research and find these programs.
Apply for a few and see how it goes.
The money you get from these special programs may not be big enough to fully fund your projects but they will significantly contribute to it.
Family and Friends
Your spouse or parent may not give you big funding like a VC backer would, but their terms for the loan will be significantly better than what you’d get from a VC firm.
If you are inexperienced and young, you may not meet the requirements to get funding from a VC firm.
But your dad most likely won’t mind investing in your idea because he wants you to win in life.
He may simply bank on your potential and nothing more.
So, when looking for business funding, consider those around you who want nothing more than for you to succeed.
Conclusion on Entrepreneur Kit: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship comes with several benefits and perks.
But it is typically not an easy road to get to these benefits.
This is why as an entrepreneur or an aspiring one, you need all the guidance you can get as you navigate through this tedious path.
Hopefully, this article has been of help to you in this regard.
And always remember, you only fail if you give up.
So, keep pushing on regardless of how challenging it gets.
