Rinchi
TechInAfrica – Being an entrepreneur can be done by anyone who’s willing to try their luck. However, you need to really assure yourself whether you really want to do it or not. It is true that anyone can start it, but nobody says it is easy. Entrepreneurship is hard, especially when you just start the business. It has ups and downs and a high risk of failure. You’ll have to be committed and put your full effort to handle it.
Being an entrepreneur also requires you to have relevant skills, especially in sales and marketing. Even more, you should be more responsible and have a leadership skill. Additionally, you need the capital fund to run and grow your business until it reaches success.
Despite the difficulties to become an entrepreneur, it’s a promising job as it doesn’t only bring profits but also strengthens your characters. Anyone can start to be an entrepreneur at a young age if they are willing to.
For teenagers who want to be young entrepreneurs, these are the simple steps you can take:
- Always Keep in Mind that You’ll be Success
Keep in mind that anything is possible if you’re willing to try hard until the end. You need to believe that you’ll be successful and never give up before you can reach that goal. Keep the spirit up and never let doubt take over you.
You can find a role model to keep this thinking. Read stories about successful entrepreneurs and if it’s possible to follow their path to achieving success. Another method you can use: write down motivational quotes and your goals on posts it and stick it somewhere you can frequently see. Without you even realize, it’s programmed in your mind.
- Find a Mentor
Most successful entrepreneurs have mentors to help them, especially when they just landed on the business. As you are young and lack of experiences, it may be tough for you to make important decisions when running your business. Therefore, you should get yourself a mentor, a more experienced person who you can learn from. Even more, you can ask him for a help to share his knowledge and resources to you in order to grow your business. A mentor can be anyone but more experienced than you are. However, you should make sure he or she understands the business world.
- Don’t be Afraid to Try New Experiments
As you are still young and inexperienced, you might be unsure what you will and have to do with your life. You have no idea whether you want to start a business or try something else. For that matter, you should try anything like you’re doing an experiment. Don’t be afraid to try as many experiments as possible until you’re finally sure what you really like and want to do. Anytime you find it undesiring, stop and try a new thing. The more you try the more experience you get.
- Start Your Business Without Asking for Anyone’s Permission
Youths often ask for a permission from their parents when they want to do something. They also ask for their parents’ advice and guidance. However, to start a business, especially if it’s your dream, you don’t have to ask for anyone’s permission for achieving that. It is true that adults know much more than you do, but sometimes asking adults for advice and permission can be a bad choice. They may put a lot of stress in you and doubt your decision. Thus, you have to decide for yourself.
- Always Follow Your Heart
To be an entrepreneur, you need to think different. Don’t follow what most people do, but follow your heart instead. If you want to be an entrepreneur but most people find it undesirable, don’t listen to them. Many people are feared taking risks, thus, an entrepreneurship is something they are not keen on as it is risky. But it’s okay. Believe in yourself, stop listening to others and just follow your own heart.
- Find Venture Capital
This is the biggest challenge most entrepreneurs face when starting a business. As you are still young, this might be tougher as you might think many people won’t take you seriously. But don’t worry, there’s a lot of people out there who want to invest their money in. The first thing you can do to find venture capital is using the internet or social media where you can search potential investors.
Another method you can try is finding an accelerator program. Startup accelerators help new businesses with growth potentials. They also help you with mentorship, education, and funding. Many startup accelerators mostly targeting specific niches, such as technology, agriculture, healthcare, finance, and so on.
- Be Wise With your Money
When you finally find venture capital to develop your business, spend it wisely. Spend it to important things to grow your business, don’t spend it on irrelevant things that don’t bring potential growth to your business.
- Have Many Experience Before Starting An Entrepreneurship
When you start a business, make sure it’s something you are familiar with or have some experiences in. It’s hard to start a business when you have no idea what business you’re running. It only increases the risk of failure. If you think you still don’t have enough experience, get some. You can work for someone or participate in volunteering events. The more experience you get, the more you ready for starting your business.
- Surround Yourself with The Right People
Surround yourself with the right people, those who can shape your mentality. Be friends or close to those who live the life you want to live and take the example from. Being close to these people will give you the challenge to follow their paths. Ultimately, it will inspire and motivate you to achieve your life goals. If you want to stay motivated, stay away from those who doubt and bring negative energy to you
- Always Passionate About What You’re Doing
As starting a business is not an easy task, you need to be passionate in order to stay in the business and reach success. In fact, it’s the main ingredient to grow your business. Always love what you’re doing even though you’re going through a hard time. When you feel like giving up, remember how much you love the business you’re doing. If you don’t really love what you’re doing, it will stress you out anytime you face challenges.
- Don’t be Afraid of Taking Risks
Starting a business is risky that’s why only tough and highly motivated people will stay in the business. You will face a lot of challenges you may have never experienced before. However, don’t let this stop you from doing what you want to do. If being an entrepreneur is your only dream, face the fear and just take all the risks. Young entrepreneurs often fear many things, such as not knowing where to start from, not capable enough, having to make difficult decisions, not finding venture capital, or not attracting customers, etc.
- Determine Your Goal
Determine your goal will help to evaluate what you’re doing to grow your business. You will be able to figure out if your business is doing fine or if you need to change your strategy to improve your business. Divide your goals into three parts; short, medium, and long-term and measure them regularly.
