The word “entrepreneurship” sounds a bit scary. One tends to immediately think it’s a tough thing to accomplish and that it requires a lot of money for a start; however, those views on the entrepreneur’s mindset are misguided.
Entrepreneurship is 50% attitude and 50% action; therefore, the “I don’t have time” idea is toxic. You probably have visualized specific actions or projects, but you keep finding reasons why you can’t turn them into reality. The key here is dreaming big and starting small. Aside from your day job, you may focus your attention on furthering your passions.
A recent interview with Tina Roth Eisenberg, founder of design blog/studio swissmiss, CreativeMornings, TeuxDeux and Tattly, describes her journey as an entrepreneur. In it, she also comments on the importance of side projects and how starting small has a positive impact.
“Believe in side projects. Tattly was a side project; swissmiss was a side project; CreativeMornings was a side project; TeuxDeux was a side project. These are all things that turned into revenue streams for me (…) To me, that shows that someone has ideas, self-initiative, and can make things happen.”
Reading about successful stories is inspiring to learn that it’s possible to reach goals; nevertheless, we don’t get to perceive the struggle behind them. Success comes along with obstacles and overcoming stressful situations. In spite of this, the keywords here are make things happen.
There is no easy way and this is why you must remember two aspects in particular:
- Entrepreneurship means taking risks
There is no safe path. Learning from mistakes and standing up again and again is a must to make projects succeed. Persistence is an entrepreneur’s main characteristic.
- Entrepreneurship means creating opportunities
The ‘right conditions’ to start up do not exist. The best time to do so is right now. So make your own luck and never stop learning.
In other words, “entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” Why not you? When you’re determined to dream big and try hard, there is no reason for you to be unsuccessful.
Alicia is a content editor and writer. Blogs about leadership and the corporate world at The Working Culture.
