“Entrepreneur” is an exciting title for many as it can be a fulfilling and rewarding career. The entrepreneurial path tends to start with a great idea. You may turn to your friend and say, “wouldn’t it be great if…?” and your wheels start turning on what resources and technology you might need to bring this idea to life. Those interested should create a plan and include the following steps for becoming an entrepreneur:
1. Identify a problem.
2. Expand your formal and informal education.
3. Build your network.
4. Reach financial stability.
5. Solve the problem with a business idea.
6. Test the idea.
7. Raise money.
1. Identify a problem
After you’ve come up with your great idea—like a restaurant concept, delivery service, coaching speciality or new app—you can start creating the business plan. Often, you’ve found a concept or process that will make consumers’ lives easier. For example, after watching the news, an entrepreneur finds that their city lacks sufficient daycare centres for the working population. Through further research, the entrepreneur discovers that surrounding counties share the same problem.
2. Expand your formal and informal education
Education is essential in an entrepreneurial career. This may be a college degree program, apprenticeship or a variety of work experience. You will want to learn the basics of business, build your vocabulary, and have solid business acumen. Problems frequently occur when starting a business, and knowing how to overcome them is vital for the entity to thrive.
Before getting started, you may want to explore various success stories—and even failures—of confident business entrepreneurs. Doing so will likely help you comprehend the required tenacity and inspire you to make the seemingly impossible possible. Start by following entrepreneurs from your university or alma mater or find influencers on social networking sites.
3. Build your network
It can take time to get a business venture going. However, you can make it easier by enlisting help from other professionals or mentors. Those who take the time to network and make new connections can gain valuable benefits. Contacts may provide helpful starting loans, relevant advice or present new and more significant opportunities.
Look for entrepreneurs among family, friends, neighbours or university alums networks and reach out to them for informational interviews. Consider yourself an investigative reporter and make it your goal to learn two to three things from each of them about entrepreneurship. Take copious notes.
Also, take the time to learn about angel investors and funding for entrepreneurs and small business grants.
Vaibhav Dadhich
MBA, PGDM, PhD Scholar’
4. Reach financial stability
Although it’s possible to obtain additional capital, experts advise that new entrepreneurs have a decent amount of savings since they may lose money on their first business. Feel free to work with a financial expert on what your P&L (Profits & Losses) worksheet may look like one, two and three years out. Many entrepreneurs find that they start to turn a profit in three to five years, and a lot can change in the market during that time. Suppose you have a backup stream of income, support or an additional pool of money. In that case, this can make the transition to a new business idea easier to manage and help educate your expectations.
5. Solve the problem with a business idea
Continuing with the previous example, the entrepreneur’s solution is to open a childcare facility with multiple corporate partners who support the tri-county area. With so many businesses employing parents with small children and no business already providing dependable childcare, there are plenty of customers and revenue to be made. Entrepreneur can now formulate their business plan.
6. Test the idea
The entrepreneur’s idea is solid, but they need to test it. Local business owners are the best place to start. So, the entrepreneur surveys multiple business owners in the area, assessing their need—and the need of others they might know—for childcare. Results show that the vast majority are unsatisfied with their current childcare, citing long commutes and work interruption as their chief complaints.
The entrepreneur learns two valuable pieces of information:
- Most community members need the service.
- There are three large employers with sufficient employees and potential onsite daycare space.
A competitor analysis can provide areas of improvement in the business plan.
7. Raise money
It’s good to have savings to fall back on, but the entrepreneur may need a lot more to start the business.
