Resonate Your Experience with Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Anything you learn about entrepreneurship is after founding your company. I learned this after running Intelligent Payment Networks with my partner for two years. I believe the sign of a good entrepreneur is the ability to spot your mistakes, correct them quickly, and not repeat them again. For instance, always trust your instincts. No matter how much someone tells you otherwise, always follow your gut, I promise you it will guide you to the right place. Never listen to the naysayers, there will be PLENTY. Just know if you could begin the race, you’ll most likely make it to the finish line, regardless of what place you come.
The most important thing I’ve learned so far is that the “start-up” experience is different for everyone. Some people build apps while others come up with products and services. Some people use crowd funding while others get angel investment. Some people come out of accelerator programs whilst others commercialize the research they did in their degree. At the end it breaks down to individual choices and decisions.
The initial hesitation and fear of starting a start-up can either make or break you, however there will never be a perfect time to begin your own business, you just have to wake up, put that entrepreneur hat on and go get em’.
I started with an idea, and absolutely nothing else. Two years later, I have a company, I have a business plan, I have a targeted industry, I have an office, I have funding, I have components and mostly I have determination. There is still a lot more that needs to be achieved, but I am a step closer to where I wanted to be.
I think personally the biggest struggle when running a start-up is getting a good team in place. The toughest part is hiring quality workers. As the business grew, I saw an enormous amount of transition between new hires. I am not oblivious to their concerns of working with a start-up, had I been in their place I would be concerned too. I just never gave-up on believing that there are individuals out there that believe in my vision and company. I looked hard, and then harder, and like magic was lucky enough to find individuals that shared the same vision as myself.
Now that I have a good team in place, I know I am ready for all the volcanoes, thunderstorms and earthquakes this experience might throw at me. My next concern: resonating this experience with aspiring entrepreneurs and motivating them to ‘go for it’.