Entrepreneurship is the most discussed issue in the world today and at the same time the most misconceived. Most individuals look up to entrepreneurs and envision them as they are but they have misconceived notions of what the journey actually entails.
Such misconceptions tend to frighten people to pursue their own business or venture into entrepreneurship with wrong expectations. I have taken time to study and reflect on this issue and I have discovered that the reality about entrepreneurship is not what most people believe it to be. In this essay I shall discuss the false beliefs that people make and why they are fallacious.
A huge myth is that being an entrepreneur is a fast-tracked richness. It is a misconception that a business person will start making money easily once he or she has started a business. They think that entrepreneurs are instant profit makers and lead luxurious life without any stress.
But the reality is different. Most of these business people started out as unstable entrepreneurs who took years to stabilize. Others even failed a number of times. Entrepreneurship entails patience, persistence and sacrifice. I have observed that the most successful entrepreneurs are those who work long nights, face slow growth, and financial status before they finally get results. It is not a fast-tracked road to wealth.
The other misconception is that entrepreneurs are not having problems. There are individuals who believe that, since an entrepreneur is the boss then the life just becomes easy. As a matter of fact, entrepreneurs usually have more issues than ordinary employees.
They strategize on how they can pay their workers, how to please their customers, how to contend with competition and how they can manage to keep the business going during hard times. The pressure can be heavy. Being your own boss equates to being the cause of all the evils as well. As I have seen, entrepreneurship must have great emotional power since there is hardly a day without challenges.
The other myth is that an individual needs a lot of money to start up a business. Most individuals put off their dreams since they believe that they would need millions before they can start. But many of the successful businesses nowadays began with little money.
The only thing that counts is ingenuity, strategizing, market knowledge, and the readiness to expand at a slow pace. With little materials, an individual is able to begin with something small and grow as one goes. Personally, I think having a good idea and strong determination is of more significance than having a great sum of money in the start.
There are also individuals who assume that business individuals should know it all before they begin. They believe that one must be aware of the entire plan, the entire strategy and the entire future of the business before he or she makes the first step. However, in the real world, every entrepreneur is not born with all the solutions.
Many learn along the way. They do wrong things, change their plans and develop through experience. Entrepreneurship is not about being perfect but evolution. It is procrastination that causes one to wait until everything is just right before taking any action.
The other myth is the belief that X-special people can only be entrepreneurs. There is an opinion that only geniuses or risk-takers or individuals with exceptional talent can enter the world of entrepreneurship. However, the fact remains that any person can become an entrepreneur as long as he/she is willing to study, work hard, and be consistent.
You need not be the brightest in your school to create something, something significant. All you require is passion, discipline and mindset that is willing to give solutions. It has been through the stories that I have read that I have realized that simple people with simple backgrounds have managed to establish great businesses out of perseverance.
The other misconception is that entrepreneurs are less hard working than their counterparts. There are those who envy the freedom the entrepreneur has and believe that the job is easy. However, the reality is that businesspeople tend to work more hours particularly during the initial phases.
Planning, organizing, marketing and making key decisions are under their responsibility. They are also thinking about the business even when they are travelling or sleeping. Their liberty in the future life can only be achieved after many years of hard work.
It is also wrongly believed that failure is the end of the road. Having a fear of starting is common in many people since they do not wish to fail. Failure is an element of the entrepreneurship process.
Most successful business people experienced failure a number of times until they got their way. The failure should not be taken as a stop sign but rather as a lesson. Each error conveys a lesson. In my opinion, the more difficult the challenge an entrepreneur overcomes, the stronger s/he becomes.
Finally, there is an assumption that being an entrepreneur means that a person is happy and free of stress. This is not true. Entrepreneurship also comes along with a sense of happiness, as well as fear, pains, and guilt. It is a happiness to create something meaningful, to create impact, to watch your hard work developing. However, it is part of the game and every entrepreneur has to carry the stress.
Finally, the wrong awareness that people have in the field of entrepreneurship may demoralize or misguide people. Entrepreneurship is not easy money, it is not trouble-free and it is not a privilege of some special individuals. It is a process of patience, education, daring, imagination and survival. Once the individuals get the truth, they will enter into the Entrepreneurship with the right mentality and will be ready to face the challenges and rewards.