May
19, 2021
6 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Be your own boss. Have your own business. Every day more people see becoming an entrepreneur as a life plan. However, many are left with their dream unfulfilled. Not because of a lack of conditions, but because of beliefs that they have incorporated and that are holding their way.
In my experience, people often make use of one of these three beliefs to put off their projects.
All or nothing thinking
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It has lethal power over entrepreneurs and their businesses. It is based on the false assumption that it is necessary to have the perfect conditions to start entrepreneurship. As these conditions are never met, the venture is frustrated.
For example, the entrepreneur who suffers from the “all or nothing” thinking thinks that to begin with, you must have sufficient financial capital, all the equipment purchased, a 100% trained work group, an innovative brand design, and so on. I do not know entrepreneurship that was born like this. Something is always missing, it will never be possible for you to start this way.
In fact, the world’s most valuable companies started before they got it all figured out. We can think of Facebook for example: Mark Zuckerberg started in his college dorm (he didn’t have his own office; not even servers), with his programming knowledge and the help of his friends (he didn’t have the best technical team), with no experience as entrepreneur (he was 20 when he founded Facebook), etc. The history of Google, Apple, Amazon and many others is quite similar.
Therefore, to undertake it is necessary to demolish this false belief of “all or nothing”. You must overcome that paralyzing perfectionism that leaves you with excellent plans but to no avail. Seth Godin, in his first episode of the Akimbo Podcast , makes it clear: “start before you’re ready.” That is what it is about, undertake with what you have.
The million dollar idea
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There are other entrepreneurs who complicate themselves. That is, they believe that being an entrepreneur is synonymous with being an inventor or worthy of a Nobel Prize. Therefore, they spend their lives in an incessant search for the “million dollar idea” so that once they are found there, they can undertake.
Beneath this belief there is another one a little more hidden. They believe that “everything is made up.” In other words, to be successful as an entrepreneur it is necessary to revolutionize the industry. Unfortunately this is also false, and many entrepreneurs never do anything to believe in this.
Again there are many examples that we can cite that discredit this theory. Starbucks started out as a coffee shop, selling high-quality beans and coffee machines. Cafeterias there are thousands, everywhere and for several years.
The founders of Starbucks didn’t wait to find the “magic recipe” for coffee or the “perfect coffee shop.” They just started. It is true that under the leadership of Howard Schultz the company would take a phenomenal leap with certain innovations (for example the “ Frappuccino ”). But at first it was just a cafeteria. The same has happened with KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut.
Therefore, entrepreneurship means providing something of value to the market, which customers are willing to pay. With just that, an enterprise is born. Don’t get complicated looking for that million dollar idea. Start with the idea you have and then with a lot of work and a little luck, maybe you can be a benchmark in the industry.
I have no time
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A third very generalized myth is that to undertake you have to have a lot of time. In this way, those who already have a full-time job, study or take care of their family, will feel that it is impossible to undertake for the little time they have left.
However, it is not true either. There is no more egalitarian element in the world than time. We all have 24 hours a day. However, in this period there are people who achieve spectacular results and others who do not. What is the difference?
It all comes down to one word: priorities. It is not a question of time, but of what tasks we put first. Time is finite, it implies that you have to choose how it is used; in other words, saying yes to some things and saying no to others. And the latter is something that is very difficult for many entrepreneurs.
It is true that time is a fundamental variable for business success. Without dedication there are no results. But at the beginning, you can start the same, with the little time you have.
A famous example is the case of Phil Knight, founder of Nike. Since college he was an outstanding athlete with an interest in sports footwear. After graduating as an accountant, he worked for several years at other companies, while in his spare time he grew Nike. With the little time he had, he did the same.
Conclution
Entrepreneurship is a challenge, with enormous difficulties on various fronts. But beyond the barriers of the real world, let’s not let these false beliefs hold back the potential we have.