Almost 30 percent of the US workforce, or about 44 million people, are self-employed (also known as “Entrepreneurs”). Some people start their own business and manage it in addition to their day job and socializing. Whereas remaining are entrepreneurs with a vast vision where they have the freedom to grow their mindset and believe in learning new skills every day.
To become a successful entrepreneur, you do not need a degree from any popular college or any specific professional requirements. All you need is the right business idea, intelligent ways to execute the idea at the right time, and knowing the right marketing strategy to take your brand to reach the right audience.
Along with the mindset of becoming an entrepreneur, you must be having the proper knowledge, passion, and drive to achieve. Every business you do is risk-averse; make sure to have the team support to handle any kind of failure if the idea doesn’t match the exact need and timing in the market.
Wondering how to join the ranks of the entrepreneurial class? This guide goes over the steps to becoming an entrepreneur. So, why wait? Let’s delve into it.
1. Come Up with a Business Idea
Before you wonder how to become an entrepreneur, think about the fields in which you are a master. You can be an entrepreneur in almost any area, technology, agriculture, finance, media advertisement, social marketing, and so on.
The key to success is having an idea for a business. Maybe you want to design a mobile app, or perhaps you just want to offer people a better way to shop for cool t-shirts. In any way, having a business idea of what the goal is will help.
Next, you have to do some research. Has anyone else attempted this idea? Then who is your competitor?
If someone else with the same business idea existed in the market, you might have to study and research a bit deeper to know what they are doing and your take on it. What will be your unique spin on the idea? If the other business failed, what would you do differently to ensure success?
2. Create a Business Plan
It’s good to have a business idea, but it’s vital to execute it successfully. If you go out and ask, you will find that every single person has some idea. But when it comes to execution, you will found just a handful of entrepreneurs who made it successful.
In 2019, the failure rate of startups was around 90%. The research concludes 21.5% of startups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year.- Data Source: Investopedia
You might have heard about these stats or many other failure stories, but have you tried exploring the reason “why?”
There is a famous saying, “If you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail.” This is a generic statement, but it’s so true for entrepreneurs and the startup ecosystem. That’s why businesses need a B-Plan – a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time frame for the achievement of the goals.
If you know how to write a business plan, it’s excellent- otherwise, you can learn it and do it, else you can hire a professional to do it for you. Anyhow, try to create a solid B-Plan and try hard to execute the B-Plan with a never-give-up attitude. Remember, if you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail.
3. Test Your Idea Before the Launch
Your idea will be ‘the next best thing’ in the market, but what if it cannot fulfill your dream to become a successful entrepreneur. Therefore, you need to check the viability of your idea/product or whatever you will put out in the market.
Various ways to test your product are:
- Local shops/market
- Internet/social media
- Social circle/friends
- Survey
You could also conduct a brief survey and ask people to test and review your product so that it will be easy to make changes and deliver the product/service best, among others.
4. Evaluate Your Skills
Once you have an idea and you’ve done some research, you might feel ready to leap into action. There’s a fundamental question every entrepreneur needs to ask themselves, though. Always ask, “Am I the right person for this job?”
If you want to build an app, but you don’t know much about programming, you might not be the right person.
That doesn’t mean you can’t still launch a business or become an entrepreneur. One of the most crucial skills for an entrepreneur day job is that of delegation. You might not be the right person to build the app, but you can probably find a team that can do it.
Your skills might lie in the area of marketing or even leadership. An accurate assessment of your skills will help you find the right people to help you bring your idea to life.
5. Learn and Educate Yourself
Always keep learning, never stop educating yourself because maybe you have an MBA degree but don’t have experience or vice versa. So always be ready to jump on every opportunity where you could learn as in one way or another it will help you in your business.
Be an expert in your field or what you do and become the best version of yourself.
Related: 10 Things Every Successful Entrepreneur Do in The Morning
Products like Kneelex and Coca-Cola don’t even exist if their founders have stopped learning and experimenting at that time; now we all can see where they are today; that’s the power of learning.
6. Financial Steps to Take
Before you quit your day job, you should take some time to set yourself up as an entrepreneur.
Whether you have savings or external funding, always take your financial situation seriously. Even if you consider yourself a good finance manager still, you should seek help from a Finance Expert. It will give you enough time to focus on your business, and the expert will define all the profit and loss so that you could make investments accordingly.
Besides, you need not worry if you aren’t able to hire someone to do your finances; the situation will not remain the same all the time. At such time, make a list of all the financial options available to you and keep a tab of your P&L(profit and loss); it should be updated daily. Also, keep this in mind, never slack off in financial matters.
Related: Does Finance Stress You as an Entrepreneur
7. Build Network
Humans are social animals, and we work by socializing with each other hence, the more people you know, the more you get noticed. Building a network is one of the essential elements of Entrepreneurship because it helps you grow your business.
It is through your network only; you will get to know about the interested people in your product/business. As well as if you need any funding, your networks are the people you should turn to if you need any funding rather than a stranger.
Networking helps you get to know different types of people and in advertising and reviewing your product expertly.
8. Learn How to Raise Money
One of the essentials to start any business is ‘raising money’ so, how exactly can you do that-
Take a Loan- It is not an easy task to do, but if you haven’t put some savings aside beforehand for a business, then this is undoubtedly a great option.
Find An Investor- Although the best among all the available options in raising money is finding an investor who will invest in your business, preferably if they like your idea. Networking through various platforms also helps prominently to find an investor and build trust between you and your investor.
Bootstrapping- Starting up with minimal financial resources, savings, or managing it from your friends and family. In other words, solely managing finance for your business is called bootstrapping your startup. It is the most challenging way for an entrepreneur, but the condition is if you have no external financial support or investor partners.
So, it is totally up to your idea that which option suits you best.
9. Advertise your Product
Even if it is a small business or you are doing it out of a hobby, try to advertise it as much as possible because sometimes the quality of the product fades in front of the advertising method used by its competition.
According to a recent IAB study, $26.5 billion was spent in 2019 by marketers on location-based advertising(mobile Ads). This is the power of advertising which is why companies are spending massive amounts on ads.
Effective and creative advertising will always work in your favor, no matter what you are against; if your competition can’t get creative, then indeed, you’re the winner.
10. Know Your Customers/Target Audience
Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of multinational company Amazon once said, “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better”, and this statement tells us the importance of customers in the businesses, so it is necessary to read your customers thoroughly and what they feel towards your product. Consider their feedback and make changes to your business accordingly because they are the ones who are going to pay you for that.
Customer consideration is suitable for your business and a work ethic/moral that a true Entrepreneur or Businessperson should follow.
11. Know Your Worth!
No matter the time, the circumstances, and hardships you are going through, always remember to reward yourself. Even if you’ve done a single sell in a day, celebrate it and try to do more the next day.
Hard-working is good but don’t be hard on yourself; try not to compare with the other businesses running in the market for the past 10-20 years because one day you will also get there, and one can’t just leap directly on the top.
Related: 7 Habits of Highly Confident People
An Entrepreneur inspires Other’s With Their Success Story
These steps to becoming an entrepreneur will help you as you begin your journey. With the right tools, the right team, and the right idea, you’ll be well on your way to a successful business.
Just imagine how you’re going to live your life if somebody wants to make a movie on it, for sure, you’ll work harder, try to inspire as many people as you can, and most importantly, you would want to achieve your ambition and become successful.
So, without giving it much thought, start working as the hero of your story where you are the inspiration people are looking out there.
That ‘one day will soon come where you’ll look back and feel proud of all the blood and sweat you’ve poured throughout your journey towards success.
