Being an entrepreneur is no walk in the park. The road is tough. You’re embracing a set of uncertainties. You can’t predict what may come in the way. It’s a path less taken.

As fascinating as it is, the entrepreneurial journey comes with a certain level of risk. Before you venture on your own, make sure your skill sets are suited for it.

Four Core Principles of Entrepreneurship

Here is a list of four core principles of entrepreneurship that you should not miss:

Start with introspection

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg – there are enough and more stories of world-famous entrepreneurs for us to draw inspiration from.

But inspiration is not enough for success in your entrepreneurial life. It demands far more skills. Start by introspecting your strengths and weaknesses. That’s the best way to start.

Develop the mindset of a constant learner. If you lack the knowledge and skills, don’t be reluctant to start with a certification course.

Choose the business wisely

Starting a business of typewriters in the age of smartphones never makes sense, does it?

You should allocate your energy and efforts to a business that gives you good returns. There should be an inner passion for it.

Whatever your passion is, make sure you do the background research, market study, etc. and improve your knowledge in the domain. Speak to experts and gather facts and figures. The takeaway is to choose your domain wisely and have better clarity of what you’re doing.

Invest in people

‘You are as good as the people around you.’ Your employees, investors, clients, consultants, industry experts – everyone contributes to your success as an entrepreneur.

Think twice before you choose the people around you. Look for skills that you lack, in your teammates or co-founders of the company, so that it is balanced. Give feedback. Give a pat on their shoulders as a token of appreciation when required.

Set your goals right

Leaders are expected to be far-sighted. Know what your key metrics of success are. And move in the right direction.

The energy and efficiency of your team, as well as you, should be directed in the right direction. Also, define the right measure to value the performance. Pick up one primary metric towards which your efforts should be pointed towards.

And the final point to note is to have an exit strategy planned in mind, while you put your heart and soul into realising your dream.

Just as startups are starting to pick up speed to become the next biggest industry segment, there are many individuals who are joining the pool of entrepreneurs. It is an exciting space to be in and there is a rise in entrepreneurship online certification courses as well to upskill oneself. In the middle of this new business revolution, let us get an idea of the myths that have arisen about entrepreneurship. Everyone who enters this area, does it with a sense of expectation and preconceived notions. Being aware of those notions and the extent to which they are true, is important.

You need to be a certain kind of person

This is one of the biggest myths. It is true that being an entrepreneur is not everyone’s cup of tea. But anyone can become an entrepreneur if they are ready to work hard. Some have the attributes while others have the commitment or ability to work hard at it. So there is no specific personality type that an entrepreneur has to have.

You need a unique idea

That is again a myth. Existing ideas can be revisited and repositioned to create a successful venture. Ideas that have been explored before can also make a business venture successful. So it need not be a unique idea.

You need a lot of money to start off

One needs some funds to start with not a whole lot of money, unless the business venture’s initial scale is expected to be huge. So typically, to be an entrepreneur, you do not need a whole lot of money to start off with. You might need it to sustain the venture.

There is no work-life balance

Entrepreneurs do have time for maintaining this balance. Yes, it is likely that in some phases this balance seems a bit off track because the individual is doing everything at the same time. But that is just a phase, just as it might be in a regular corporate role.

There is a lot of flexibility

You are your own master and can manage your time so flexibly! Yes, how many times has an entrepreneur heard this? Any business that needs to be run, needs some level of planning and organizing? It runs based on a routine or prioritization of tasks. Just like any other business. So the entrepreneur does not actually have a lot of flexibility to manage things the way they want.

Every entrepreneur is looking for VC funding

Not true. Some of them are, while others are not. VC funding is not just about getting the financing done. It is also about sharing a part of your organization with those who are funding it. This does not work for all entrepreneurs.

It means taking a lot of risks

Businesses are risky ventures as is. That has nothing to do with an entrepreneur taking risks or not. So entrepreneurship is as risky as any other business, which will apply to corporate organizations too.

You will not break even for the first few years

This could be true for some ventures. It is not true for all. There are some businesses, depending on scale of operations, that do break even fairly soon.

These are a few myths surrounding this area of work. We must realize that each of these are myths and do not apply as a blanket approach to entrepreneurship as a whole.

More Information:

10 Benefits of Leadership Courses

8 reasons to become an entrepreneur

Realize your dreams, become an Entrepreneur!

Career Prospects After Pursuing a Business Management Course