How Does an Entrepreneur Begin?

It is common to hear the word entrepreneur nowadays due to the challenges the global economy is throwing to every human being, family, community, village, city and country. Amidst this chaos comes the opportunities that will create the future millionaires around the world. Those who will be succeeding the Bill Gates and Trumps of USA as well as the Alberts Ocrans and Otabils of Ghana etc.

The world is demanding of its citizens more of out-of-the-box thinking. Thinking out of the box can be found in so many ways. But more than ever, it is being demanded of CEOs, managers and business owners to catch-up with competition and be better than they find themselves at the moment. Anyway, competition is good because it promotes better products as well as edge lazy people to work harder than they are used to. Those who cannot move with the competition, bows out gracefully into searching for unavailable jobs or find the comfort zone of blaming the world and its leaders for their inability to meet the higher standards of the modern world.

In the same vain, entrepreneurship demands the entrepreneur to be passionate, consistent, creative and willing to sacrifice more than necessary, at least at the beginning stages. It is understandable that most of the people who have not been able to succeed in their corporate refugee camp have decided to come back to the issue we have been preaching about over decades of years. The question that those who have not been able to find their way around ask themselves is, how does an entrepreneur begin?

Every entrepreneur had a beginning and 99% of them have been people who have gone through a life of untold hardship that pushed them hard enough for them to take a second look at the situation and make a firm decision. Entrepreneurship has certain steps that need to be taken into consideration whenever anybody is bold enough to go that way.

Idea generation and deciding on the best idea

The world is full of opportunities and these opportunities call out to us every now and then. Unfortunately, we mostly turn deaf ear to them because we do not make the conscious attempt to look beyond what we see and are used to. We cannot blame anybody but the system that brought us up or we grew up in. This article is not about blame but responsibility. If I used the term blame game, its not because I believe in that but its because that is where we mostly leave our inabilities. Idea generation involves looking, listening and learning from the environment all around us. In this case, everything counts no matter how small it seems to be. Because its the small things that come together to form the big picture we have started noticing. After all, God is in the details. Once again, it is understandable that everything looks so choked up and it might look like, especially in the ordinary eye, ear and mind that every single idea that can be turned into business has already been taken over by other people. If that is how you feel, please create your own opportunity if you need to. Just do something extraordinary that people will be ready to pay for and your viable business idea starts from there.

Research and planning

Whiles lots of people think that all business ideas might be exhausted by other people around them, identifying the idea is not enough and that is what makes it look almost impossible for you. Anybody at all can come up various business ideas but it will the the real entrepreneur to organize the time and other resources to research into the idea and make it viable for a successful business. Researching should not necessarily be hiring somebody especially if you are starting small and does not have the financial resource for it. Just take your time to prepare questionnaires if necessary and go round seeking the information yourself. Interview people who are already in that business or industry and seek second opinion. You could also opt for a mentor who can gradually guide and prepare you for the market you are about to enter into.

Raising the start-up capital

Capital raising especially from start-up has always been challenging and that is what separates the boys from the men or the girls from the women. To some entrepreneurs, it is the single most important thing in their quest to start and manage their own businesses. But the reality is that, the world we leave in now requires a certain bravity because it is a brave new world out there for entry entrepreneurs seeking funding for their start-up. The commonest source of funding for almost every start-up, the banks still very careful with their lending interest. Whiles venture capitalists being choosy. Therefore, the approach to start-up funding needs strategy beyond the ordinary.

TO BE CONTD.