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Getting started as an entrepreneur can be down right frightening. There’s so much to learn and do, that it can be overwhelming just thinking about it. But if you’re up for the challenge, here are a few things to make getting started as an entrepreneur less scary.
Find Businesses To Imitate
Being an entrepreneur does not mean being an innovator.
Let’s get one thing straight: Being an entrepreneur does not mean being an innovator. Those are two separate things. Many times, entrepreneurs are simply taking an existing success and using their skills to create a business from it.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is a prime (ahh puns) example. When Amazon started off as an online bookstore, bookstores had been around for centuries. Jeff Bezos didn’t invent the concept of selling books. Heck, as he started Amazon, he even used Barnes and Noble as his office space!
Eventually, of course, Amazon went on to sell more than just books, and now even sells things as abstract as cloud storage. But the point is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, especially when you’re just starting out. You can start by imitating what is already working, while working to find a new angle to present.
Get in the mindset
To become an entrepreneur you have to start thinking like one. That means you can’t go into it with the same mindset you have at a corporate job. As an employee, minimizing risk helps the company succeed, while as an entrepreneur, taking big risks is what helps you succeed. It’s not easy but it can be taught.
Here’s a few resources to help you hone your mindset for entrepreneurship:
Courses
The Essential Guide to Entrepreneurship by Guy Kawasaki
Books
The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs
Podcasts
Act it out
At some point, you’ve got to stop consuming and start producing. If you’re really serious about taking this route, you need to start acting like it. But how?
Start with what you know
When you’re striking out on your own for the first time, start by monetizing the skills you already have so that you can focus on the responsibilities of being a leader.
We’ve seen this work with several top entrepreneurs. Mark Zuckerberg had already been coding for several years before he started working on Facebook. Oprah Winfrey had already been in front of audiences as a speaker and interviewer for over 10 years before starting the Oprah Winfrey show. Warren Buffet started investing as a boy before becoming one of the richest men in the world. Stay simple, start with what you know.
Network on purpose
Besides the money that other people can give you to help you start, they can also share skills and ideas to keep you on the right track.
Take another look at one of the most famous entrepreneurs of our time, Mark Z. Turns out that he was not the solo coding genius that the media makes him out to be. In fact, he credits his friend Adam D’Angelo (founder of Quora) as helping him become a better programmer. Just through being friends and sharing a common interest, Mark was able to learn more of the programming skills that would later lead him to creating Facebook.
While you may not have a pack of genius business minded friends hanging around, you do have access to plenty of conferences & meet-ups across the country.
Use weekends to devour these conferences and network with as many people as possible.
A word of advice: Don’t show up and hand out your business cards to as many people as possible. Just go and be open to meeting new people and learn about what they are doing. It will surprisingly give you many great ideas for your own business.
Here are some conferences worth attending:
Forbes 30 Under 30 summit (you don’t have to be under 30 to attend!)
Use fear to fuel you
Lastly, you’ve got to use your fear to fuel you.
“The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” — Steven Pressfield, War of Art
It’s easy to feel fear and decide to sulk back into a traditional job. But chances are you’ll start to feel the entrepreneurial itch soon enough.
You have to get clear on what you want. Start by asking yourself whether you’d be more upset with yourself later in life for trying and failing, or for not trying at all.
“I don’t want to be 80 years old and in a quiet moment of reflection, thinking back over my life and cataloging a bunch of major regrets,” — Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Entrepreneurship is a leap into the unknown, so take it one step at a time:
Find Businesses To Imitate
Get in the mindset
Act it out
Network on purpose
Use fear to fuel you
