Prepare Yourself for Entrepreneurship Perhaps the most appreciated and respected quality an entrepreneur can develop and possess is a reputation for absolute integrity

By Saurabh Kabra

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Each business has certain predefined goals and aspirations and these must be pictured well before inception. An entrepreneur upholds the soul of his/her business and is evidently the pillar holding a myriad in his organization.

The organization would burgeon only once the protagonist guides them through the path. While discharging various responsibilities as an entrepreneur, there is a lot of learning that he himself acquires and the modes of learning and alterations that we need in the course of a journey can be different with each one's perception.

Don't Be a Romantic

When you are an entrepreneur, it's easy to fall in love with an idea. Ideas that you think are unique and will surely work. But all you need to do is explore and learn from the mistakes that people have already made before, it's the first step to be a smart entrepreneur.

It is very invigorating to be an entrepreneur and seems like a rosy picture to run a business, but it doesn't work like that. There are various practical decisions that you have to make, and different situations to deal with. Realize the gravity of the situation and learn to take responsibilities. Don't get carried away with one idea and go ahead with it trusting your gut feeling (instinct), rather, explore, understand and make decisions carefully. Restrain yourself for falling in love with just one idea, that you overlook the practicality of the situation because that might become the one thing that leads you to failure.

Retrospect Your Failures Rather Than Mourning on it

Let's first learn to accept the term "failure", when encountered. The second stage of realization is that we all have to face it at some point in life and let's not expect life to be immaculate. Once there is acceptance of failure particularly in an organization, then you can begin analyzing the genesis of an activity that led to the failure. If there is a team of people involved in a project, there are multiple chances of the failure analysis discussion leading to a negative outcome with the blame game that comes in.In a general situation within an organization, it is noted that the percentage of blames is higher than the number of failures accounted. This does not truly mean that the failures were less in number, but rather there are many failures that go unnoticed since our focus relies on blaming our fellow members.

This leads to bringing about a change in outlook, where an entrepreneur can award his employees for analyzing the failures and outlining the curative measures to avoid such failures in future. Also, introduce the no blame policy where each one is responsible for a team as a whole and as adults we can correct any malpractices or errors noticed and accordingly correct our actions that could lead to an optimistic outcome benefiting the organization.

Develop a Character to Rely on

The third trait that all successful entrepreneurs must possess is integrity.

Perhaps the most appreciated and respected quality an entrepreneur can develop and possess is a reputation for absolute integrity. You must be genuinely honest in everything you do and every transaction or activity you perform. Never compromise your integrity. You words are your bond and your honour is everything when it comes to your business. Remember, a successful business is based on trust and honesty.

Your success in entrepreneurship is purely determined by the number of people who trust you and your words, who are ready to work with you, give you credit, appreciate your efforts and lend you money in difficult times.

Your character is a precious thing that you develop during your journey of becoming an entrepreneur and is based on the amount of integrity you possess.

Be Insanely Self-motivated

To simply put, you need to be insanely self-motivated to be a successful entrepreneur. You need to be a kind of person who does their takes a month in advance.

You also need to be authentically curious about the world and the market, in a quest for solutions. Initially, you will be on your own. Eventually, you will grow your team and get insanely creative and enthusiastic folk onboard, but for a while, you will be riding solo. This means you are the only marketer, finance coordinator and PR director, HR, etc and that require lots of efforts and motivation. You will be every all sort of hats and for that will exhaust you. However, if you are self-motivated, this can be super fun and an exciting learning opportunity. Simply, you will be playing every instrument in this jazz assemble, so be prepared to be challenged!

Build "Your' Team

No one person can build an empire alone. It requires a team that is as motivated and committed to the business and its growth as you. As you seek out for hiring people, you must consider various aspects. Search for skill sets, an attitude that supports your brand's culture you want to promote, which will foster innovation and enhance the work culture. Apart from the skills and attitude, you must hire for culture and values, you can help your team to develop certain skills, but you can't make someone's values fit your company. Include folks you can count on.

There's no shortcut to becoming a successful entrepreneur. But you can always jumpstart your journey to become successful.

Saurabh Kabra

Director, Business Operations India, Truvison

Mr. Saurabh Kabra is the Director, Business Operations India, Truvison.
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