Entrepreneurship is perhaps the most lucrative, creative, and exciting field of business a modern-day human being can get into. On the other hand, there isn’t a single school, course, or lesson that can teach you how to start a small business – the modern businessperson pretty much learns the ropes on their own, which is exactly what entrepreneurship is all about.
If you don’t have enough persistence and dedication to get into everything necessary for running a business on your own, you probably aren’t cut out for it to begin with. This being said, having several guidelines to abide by in the beginning is essential – you need to start somewhere.
1. Be a hustler
As you probably already know, startups are no get-rich-quick schemes – you can go a long way with little investment, but this only means that you should expect to put in a ton of hard work. The thing is, a real, rock-solid entrepreneur will never perceive their work as tedious – sure, there’s always a lot of grinds involved, day in and day out, but this is all for the greater goal of developing a business that benefits everybody.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs think that if they can talk the talk, the money will come a-knocking by itself. This is absolutely ridiculous – a talker will always attract attention, but how much hard work they put into other business-related things (the grind) will decide whether they will be perceived as a hustler or a charlatan.
On the other hand, introverted people tend to prefer doing the work and over-communicating with people, which is just as bad as being a showoff (unjust as it may seem) – overworking will help everyone but yourself.
The key to smart entrepreneurship is being a hustler – a communicative professional who isn’t afraid of an honest day’s work.
2. Always look to better the world
The world’s best entrepreneurs are, well, the world’s best, exactly because they’ve helped the world thrive in one way or another. The spirit of mid-to-late 20th-century capitalism has taught us that looking out only for ourselves will eventually bring about the greater good. In the opinion of many, this is a wrong philosophy, which is exactly why money doesn’t necessarily mean happiness.
The key to successful, thriving, and happy entrepreneurship is always looking for a way to help others (be it by bettering an existing product/service or bringing something completely new to the table) and getting paid good money for it, which is quite deserved. This is one of the most rewarding feelings there is.
3. Learn all you can
Sure, there are business schools and even a wide variety of courses that claim they can teach you how to be a businessperson, but, in truth, these aren’t enough, and they aren’t entirely necessary either. The thing is, you learn about entrepreneurship as you go, mostly through experience.
Learning from your own mistakes is probably the most efficient way to sort out all the do’s and don’ts, but it is also the hardest way to do anything. While there is no surefire way to completely avoid making mistakes, reading is the next best thing. We’re talking about books, tutorials, articles, etc. These sources can supply you with a ton of information and can all be seamlessly found in the world of the internet. Always be learning!
4. Never lack equipment and organization
Nothing screams “unprofessional!” like the lack of basic equipment. Even if you have the best marketing in the world, an impeccable website, and a perfect set of employees, a poorly equipped office will pull your entire business down.
Having neatly organized equipment comprising everything from quality computing units to notebooks, printers, and pencils is of the essence, and ensuring that everything is running smoothly can mean life or death for your team’s productivity. Dymo LabelWriter 450 will help you ensure that everything is in its place at all times and is easily accessible.
Some of these four tips truly are quite general, but they are, nonetheless, the pillars of entrepreneurship. Being a hustler doesn’t mean using people as a means to an end; it means doing what’s best for everyone involved. Curiosity, a hunger for knowledge, and organization, are the main traits of a successful (future) entrepreneur.
