Myths about Entrepreneurship
As the Google search definition goes “An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” Most of us have this notion of an entrepreneur that he is the one who is a secret genius, drop out or a bright mind sitting at the last bench. But that is not true. Every common person has the potential of being an entrepreneur. Surprised? Well, let me jot down some myths about entrepreneurship for you all.
An entrepreneur has to be a secret genius or male dropout
Our notion about an entrepreneur to be someone who is very intelligent, a genius from IV league university, or a drop-out is created by some great entrepreneurial stories like Facebook, Google, BlueLithium, etc. Entrepreneurship is not an extraordinary phenomenon but it lies dormant in each one of us as the entrepreneurial potential to be acted upon. A person need not have to have the aforementioned qualities and neither he/she should be a visionary, having lots of resources at his disposal nor they are required to have some kind of a sudden brilliant idea that can be put into action purposefully.
Then what is required? Well! All it takes to be an entrepreneur is to use the entrepreneurial methods consciously or unconsciously to develop your own entrepreneurship. And what do these entrepreneurial methods consists of? It beings with the unique means a person ALREADY has. These consist of their identity, competencies, and contacts.
An entrepreneur focused on clear goals
As mentioned in the 1st myth, the means one already has are their own identity, competencies, and contacts and one can imagine several possible goals to solve specific problems with those means he already has rather than making goals as their target. In a simple analogy, an entrepreneur is one who looks into their fridge and makes a dish out of the ingredients they found rather than going with a recipe to form a particular dish.
Thus by entrepreneurship, it is not the goals that we focus on in the beginning but the means. So basically one starts with who am i ? what do I know? whom do I know? and not directly with mystical goals or fictitious ideas.
Entrepreneurship ideas come leisurely
Sitting at a cafe, taking a sunbath, or showering with hot water and an idea emerges out of nowhere which will make you a billionaire the next day? Sounds not right? well, it's true that business ideas do not originate in the shower but are developed in multiple numbers when applying the entrepreneurial method. An idea is the easiest part of the founding process. One needs to understand a business model to know how he can form an entrepreneurial idea out of it. On the basis of one’s stock of means, he constantly develops the imagination about various possible goals for the solution of specific problems.
An entrepreneur needs to have lots of initial funds
It is a no brainer that to start a new business or to open a startup with your entrepreneurship idea, you need a lot of initial funding to start a business. But that is not true for being an entrepreneur, it is the available means you focus on rather than the funds. Instead of trying to define the expected return like a manager, an entrepreneur defines the affordable loss which can be either in terms of financial, psychological, and social respect. An entrepreneur starts his venture with the available means — the money he has, his time, and other people’s trust. Because if he fails, he fails at an early stage and at an acceptable affordable loss.
An entrepreneur never share his idea with other
There will be other people who are interested in your venture and an entrepreneur always shares his ideas with the interested people so as to extend his stock of means and portfolio of goals. The business idea is the cheapest but one’s stock of means is the most valuable thing in the entrepreneurial process.
It's neither a win-lose situation nor a win-win situation in entrepreneurship with your partners. Only those who want to join become partners by bringing in their means and decide together what should be their common shared goal. They negotiate the future together and co-create the products.
An entrepreneur always have a clear business plan
Business plans most likely do not reduce uncertainty but surely prevent unplanned yet desirable goals. One need not have to be a stickler for the plan and aims but sail according to the means and resource one have. It is luck which is one of the elements in the formula of success. Entrepreneurship is about a learnable routine in dealing with the unexpected and with the entrepreneurial method, one can turn the wheel of fortune more often.
Entrepreneurial success is rooted in genes
The entrepreneurial methods can be applied by anyone and it doesn't require you to be a super genius with special genes to be successful. Again, it is the means and what we make of it that determines the success. Entrepreneurs are made not born and one can learn to deal with uncertainty.
An entrepreneur knows the future
An entrepreneur is not a fortune teller who knows the future but creates one. One who can co-create the future as an entrepreneur doesn't have to predict it.
Reference: Prof. Dietmar Grichnik, University of St.Gallen (HSG) — “The 10 Myths of Entrepreneurship”
