Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship 101 - Complete With Resources

Posted by Monica O'Brien on January 14, 2008 at 10:41 am.

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Are you truly prepared for life as an entrepreneur?  Here are a few ways to see if you have what it takes to quit your day job and journey into the land of unknown.

Overextend Yourself

Pack your schedule with lots of things to do.  For example, I have a full time job, take three graduate courses, and run 3 blogs.  In between, I must find time for going to the gym, hanging out with friends, and spending time with my husband -and I bet this schedule still looks pretty light to many entrepreneurs.

As an entrepreneur, you will have way too many things to do, so try it now and see how you prioritize.  Can you live that sort of life for the long haul without neglecting parts of your life that are important to you?

Meet Tons of People

Entrepreneurs have to be great at networking because that’s the only way they can create opportunities for themselves.  Don’t just meet people, but meet the right people and be a little audacious with them.  If you meet someone who would make a great mentor, ask them if they would meet you for lunch.  If you work for a corporation, try to schedule a meeting with with your boss’s boss or his/her boss.  Start a blog and email a respected blogger in your niche for guidance.  Be willing to make the first move, and you might just reap a great reward you didn’t expect.  (Though beware of going about networking the wrong way.)

Read and Improve, All the Time

Good entrepreneurs have a million ideas (so do good bloggers).  They get these ideas from reading like crazy or from other inspiring outlets.  Within all those ideas, they wait until they find one that’s actually profitable.  They also read about the caveats of entrepreneurship and other entrepreneur resources before they actually take the plunge.  Many entrepreneurs are also interested in self-improvement and becoming leaders.

Be Better Than Good

Successful entrepreneurs do better than average people, so do better than the average person in your current job.  This doesn’t necessarily mean be a rockstar, but at least be a B-player at work and know you have to be on your A-game once you start your own business.

Start Playing Sports

Entrepreneurs are competitive.  They also have a lot of energy.  They also want to succeed.  They also know how to work with people.  Sound familiar to anyone?  If you think you’re unatheletic, try running a marathon instead.  (That’s what I did.)  If you can’t cut it on the field, you probably can’t cut it as an entrepreneur.

What other advice would you give to the budding entrepreneur?  Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

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  • I couldn't agree more with the "Meet People" aspect. That alone is helping me launch a product even before I graduate college. To piggy back on that note, talk about your desire for being an entrepreneur and your idea(s). People will be impressed and tell other people, soon it will spread like wildfire and you WILL come across someone who is interested and wants to meet and talk with your further. I also can't stress the reading aspect, now that I'm on the cusp of launching my business/product I'm reading everything I can find and I just wish I had started earlier. Last but not least I love the part about joining a sports team, thats a great idea and one I think I'll take up.
  • MIchael,

    Congrats on the product launch! I admire you for starting your business so early. College is a great time to start because your schedule is a lot more flexible than it is with a 9 to 5.

    You bring up a great point about talking to people. By talking about your ideas with everyone, you can utilize your network to get things done faster and meet the people you need to take your business forward.

    I read like crazy too. It seems like I never stop learning, but it's great!

    I'm glad you like the sports idea. I figured people would be mad about that one but I am a firm believer. I don't consider myself athletic, so I ran a marathon instead - which is something most people can do with a decent amount of time and training. You can also do intramural sports at your local gym with friends. Another idea I had if someone really hates sports is learning to play chess or poker. Anything strategic and competitive would work.

    Thanks for the comment!
  • This sounds like all the entrepreneurs I know. It's interesting (good) that entrepreneurship is getting more respect lately - ie., respected as much as, if not more, than traditional professions like being a doctor or lawyer. Although I must say, Monica, you make me feel like quite the under-achiever with your time-intensive activities ;)
  • Rebecca,

    I'm glad entrepreneurship is getting recognized and becoming a respected "profession" as well.

    I guess I should have mentioned that I don't necessarily do all of those things well. For example, I don't have a 4.0 in school; instead, I learn what I feel will help me and everything else (like accounting, bleh) I let slide a little. I guess that goes back to priorities - with grade non-disclosure, a 4.0 doesn't actually get me anything, so it doesn't make sense for me to pour a lot of time into it.

    I greatly admire people who know what they want to do and are able to pour all their energy into that one thing. If you have that, you don't need to overload your schedule. My husband is one of those people, and I'm so jealous of him sometimes! He's known he wanted to be a doctor since 8th grade and now he's in school making it happen. So there are different roads, to getting where you want to be - mine just happens to be a busy one :).
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