12 Baby Steps to Entrepreneurship

There are IIMs to teach management and IITs to teach engineering. There is NIFD to teach designing and NIIT to teach IT.

But how to learn entrepreneurship?

Although few short term courses on entrepreneurship do pop up at random times, there is no such official, formal and guaranteed education format wherein one can learn this ‘skill’.

Legends have concluded that the only way to learn entrepreneurship is to actually do it firsthand. Or in other words, entrepreneurs need to experiment and learn.

Pretty long curve of learning, I must say!

Here is a short, concise 12 baby steps which have the capability to motivate and inspire entrepreneurship in each and everyone. All you need to do is follow your heart and do the following:

 

Practice:

Practice what you already know, and become a master in that field. Regular practice of a particular skill will help you to become an entrepreneur. Keep on practicing and never ever think of quitting. Only losers quit!

Ask:

Ask, and you may get it. Training of any sales personal begins with the practice of ‘asking’. Unless you ask for, you won’t get it. If you have less knowledge and/or experience of any particular field, always ask it. It is better to ask than to fail.

Desire:

Don’t assume that you have it all. Even Bill Gates has a desire- to eradicate all ills of our society. Desire is the mother of all learning; until and unless you desire, how can you fight for it? Desire and desire incredible things.

Discover within yourself:

For a newbie entrepreneur, it is always advisable to discover the gems within themselves and then create a product/service which utilizes maximum of your hidden gems. In fact, you will be surprised to know how much intellectual and practical wealth you already have!

Walk Around It:

When a peculiar problem arises, then walk around it; see it from different angles and combinations. You should not take a judgment based on just one side of the story; you should be aware of all the consequences. Walk around the problem and overcome it.

Experiment:

In other words, fail often and fail fast. Experimenting is the single greatest source of learning for an entrepreneur. When you are working without a map, then how can you know what works and what doesn’t work?

Experiment, try out new things and see what happens. Unless you are experimenting, you are not an entrepreneur.

Teach:

Teach others and empower yourself. You may be surprised to know but teaching alone can provide you immense knowledge and experience of the subject. Teaching broadens your mind and allows to you understand things in a 360 degree angle. Share as much knowledge as you can, and see the amazing results.

Read & Write:

Read great books and critically examine them. Once you read, your brain becomes more flexible and open to new ideas. When you write them down, you are in fact memorizing them.

Reading and writing becomes very crucial for an entrepreneur as you are basically seeking knowledge. If it bores you, then learn. But make it a habit.

Listen:

Many are great speakers, but very few are great listeners. Listening is the most easy to follow and guaranteed way to acquire knowledge of any skill you desire; including entrepreneurship.

Observe:

As an entrepreneur, you should know how to see and observe things. So many things are happening right now, all over the world. The expert are the ones who can clearly observe and see those things which an amateur can’t.

And while observing, don’t allow your worldview to dictate your observation – see things as they are, not as you want them to. Seeing and observing is a art; and you must master it.

Order from Chaos:

There is chaos all around this world. You being an entrepreneur should be able to derive order from this chaos; and trust me, very few people are able to do so. If you are successful in creating order from chaos, you are the winner.

Define & Reason:

You should be able to define a particular object so clearly that even a blind person can understand it. And that definition should be accompanies by a solid reasoning. Defining and reasoning constitutes as one of the most important part of being an entrepreneur. The world should understand your point of view and the reason behind it.

[box type=”shadow” ]These wonderful steps have been inspired from an equally wonderful book called “You Can Do Anything!” by James T Mangan. Originally published in the year 1936, this book still inspires and motivates all.[/box]