“The reason a banker does not ask you for your report card is because your banker is not interested in your academic intelligence. Your banker is interested in your financial intelligence.
“Your financial statement is your report card after you leave school. It’s your report card as am adult”. These are wise and truthful sayings by Robert T. Kiyosaki in his book: Why “A” Students Work for “C” Students and “B” Students work for the Government.
I so much cherish those thoughts because they reflect the current society we are in. And you must have heard that you are as rich as your boss/employer permits. But don’t play down the experience garnered through mentorship or possibly apprenticeship (and presumed to be the best). That introduces us to today’s topic- entrepreneurship.
We can all agree that if there are ten young people in a room, eight of them want to be entrepreneurs.
Gone are the days when the average dream of young adults was to go to school, graduate and get a good job. That dream now, sounds like the wish of mediocre people.
Entrepreneurship is the new cool. Everyone wants to a boss. The new dream is to finish school, turn an amazing idea into a money generating business within the space of a few years, kick back, find a ‘bae’ as cool as you, get married before 28, (30 tops) have cute little kids, with tons of online followers and friends and not work hard ever again and live happily ever after. But entrepreneurship is over glamorized.
There is this very dangerous myth in circulation;
‘A good idea is the key to business success.’
Good ideas are good and will always be good but it is definitely not the key to business success. Are we kidding? A good idea is barely the beginning!
What about knowledge/expertise,
Market demand
Project cost,
Financing/capital,
Competition,
Location,
Laws,
Rules and regulations,
Are people willing to pay for your idea?
Is there enough passion to pursue it and follow it through?
Social media hasn’t helped at all. Feeds and timelines are constantly filled with success stories of entrepreneurs and people who are their own bosses but we tend to forget that social media doesn’t show the private struggles, pain and sacrifices one had to go through to achieve their goals.
Being young and successful is about finding your niche in the world and dominating. You mustn’t be an entrepreneur to be young and successful. Most young people are impatient and refuse to follow the part of growth. No one wants a business idea that will take fifteen, twenty years to flourish.
The learning process is essential. Even if you suddenly have that wonderful idea right now, it requires strength, wisdom and strategy to execute it. Most times all these things can only be found via years of experience from someone who is either higher or has done something similar. The learning process is ESSENTIAL.
Everyone wants to be rich in a snap. But the goal should be to fill a niche in the world. Who are you in the world? Are you filling a niche, are you solving problems with your idea, or just like the title ‘Entrepreneur’.
By: Chisom Winnifred