Nowadays, the mass media, the social media and basically the whole human race are paying more attention than ever on entrepreneurship. Educational institutions around the world are focusing on fostering the entrepreneurial mindset among the younger generations.
“If everyone becomes an entrepreneur, who is going to work for them?”
This is a common misconception about the word ‘entrepreneur’. By practising the entrepreneurial mindset, you don’t necessarily need to start a business. The irony is not every business owner is exactly an entrepreneur, but this is out of topic today. Today, we are going to talk about why the society is emphasizing on the entrepreneurial mindset and how we can apply the mindset in our life.
First of all, what is this ‘entrepreneurial mindset’? Let’s see what Google said:
Being innovative and create new values are two very important human characteristics that keep the human race moving forward. If we were not innovative, we would still be living in the cave.
The popularization of internet and technologies has transformed the human world in many ways. The job market has undergone a lot of changes in the past two decades, and it will never stop changing. To cope with the rapidly changing world out there, every individual has to be innovative.
In the past, the definition of success is very straightforward. There are some very popular conventional ideas of success such as achieving independence, attaining a position of power, or amassing wealth. Those days, most people were determined to climb to the top of the hierarchy. If you’re a teacher, your aim is to be the headmaster one day; if you’re an accountant, your ultimate target is to be the CFO one day.
However, rules have changed. Now technology itself has become the great general manager. It can monitor performance closely, provide instant feedback, even create reports and presentations. The old orders of companies’ structure have been destroyed. Many successful new startups are keeping a very lean team, and many existing corporates are experiencing a revolution.
In today’s world, you can’t expect to receive orders from managers, obey orders, work hard and be promoted one day. Employers are more attracted to individuals that are independent, creative, and proactive. A 2010s top employee has to utilize the skills, knowledge and intuition to constantly create new values for the business.
Here is when the entrepreneurial mindset comes in. We have listed out 7 important characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset for your better understanding.
#1 Create Needs
The most significant difference between a businessman and an entrepreneur is businessman follows demands while entrepreneur creates demands.
Instead of asking employers or clients what they want, initiate ideas or products that they would buy.
#2 Risk-taker
“It’s better to get forgiveness than permission.” —— Grace Hopper
When you believe that your ideas or methods are workable, go ahead.
Here’s a citation of AngelList:
We would rather have someone do something wrong than ask permission to do it. Or better, we would rather have someone do something right and not need permission to do it. This is the most common outcome.
We would rather have people ship to production whenever they want than go through an internal review process. We can fix it in production. We prefer the customer’s review process. And it isn’t too hard to reveal a new feature to a small portion of our users and iterate on it as we expand it to more users.
#3 Crafty
Entrepreneurs will always figure ways to accomplish their ideas with the minimal budget. When your idea is big but your budget is limited, you either give up or you find alternative ways.
For instance, many students might have encounter situations where they needed a projector for better visual effects during events but they couldn’t get a projector. So, they watched tutorial videos and learnt to make a projector using materials like a shoebox, duct tape, magnifying lens and black ink.
#4 Fearless
Sometimes, when you worry too much about the potential outcomes, remind yourself that you have nothing to lose. Don’t let your fear to hold you back and achieve nothing at the end.
Most successful people never fear of failure.
#5 Take Action
Steve Jobs once said, “ideas are worth nothing unless executed”. That sentence speaks a lot.
#6 Work with Advisors
It’s important to work with people who can give you useful and accurate opinions to polish your ideas. Don’t work with people that only give you a round of applause. People that can advise you and share you a different perspective can help you to develop your idea thoroughly.
#7 Recover Quickly
Failure is not a result unless you stopped. When your ideas or products failed, you could bounce back quickly or dip your head in self-denial and sadness. The choice is always yours.
If we think like an entrepreneur, we will know what to do, how to do it, and do it right. You will excel in any role at any place.
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