Many of us dream about being an entrepreneur. Few of us really work towards it. We blame for being still employed which does nothing but moving us further from our dream and in many cases, it even slows down our career growth. Entrepreneurship does not begin overnight and the stories of all successful entrepreneurs proves it.
So when do you really start working towards entrepreneurship?
It's never too early!
Here are four key things that you could do at work which gives you benefits two fold – 1. Getting ready to be an entrepreneur 2. Building your career
No matter who you work for or what your work is, you have to own your work.
Ownership is one of the key quality that comes to anyone’s mind when entrepreneurship is talked about and that’s the same quality any employer would look for in a candidate. Taking ownership of your tasks makes you the employee of choice and you’re already working towards a key quality of an entrepreneur.
Self-motivate, be passionate and persistent
Motivation drives the inner self to work and at times you will have no one but you to motivate self. There're only two things you could do to any situation – accept or change. So when you have chosen to accept the work, embrace it with passion and be persistent to accomplish it. Being dull doesn’t make things any better. But being motivated helps you fulfill the work peacefully and it makes you strong to go out there as an entrepreneur because you will surely face an opposite wind when you take that step.
Be creative and lead the show
I would like to re-quote what I shared with ACCA students many years ago on a Q&A event and I do keep sharing it to date – do not be a blind follower. A serious trap that can destroy one’s career or business is being a blind follower. Learning and thinking gives you ideas to be creative. You then apply it and lead your ideas. Don’t just follow instructions blindly. Being creative doesn’t mean you have to create a flying tricycle or something similar. It could be as simple as creating a logic formula in a workbook that saves time from calculating it manually. Creativity and leadership is inevitable in entrepreneurship.
Be flexible and see the long term benefit
Sometimes you are asked to work on something that are not part of your job description or may be work for a different project outside your expertise. You don’t have to take up all of that. But do evaluate the task from a long term perspective. You may gain an additional skill or you may get to work on an advanced role that will give you an advantage during your performance appraisals. In the short term, you may not get paid for that extra work, but it may benefit you in the longer term. And that’s why you see entrepreneurs plan for the longer term and tends to sacrifice short term returns for a higher long term returns.
So the key takeaway is, don’t gamble your life. Build your career while you work towards being a strong entrepreneur.