By Chisom Winifred
This title can be termed ‘ambiguous’ based on the tone of pronunciation. It could be a question asked with the intent to arouse sober reflection or it can be expressed in an insulting manner meant to belittle someone. For now, we’ll talk about the former.
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 be 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 glamorised
There is this very dangerous myth in circulation; ‘Good ideas are the key to business success’ good ideas are good and will always be good but it is definitely not the key to business success.
What about the resources and skills required to execute the ‘good’ idea? The strategies, productivity rate, 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.
I once had the opportunity to listen to the CEO of peace group of companies, Maduka Onyishi and he said something that refused to leave my subconscious.
“If you have a business idea and it would take a hundred thousand to execute it and you only have just one hundred, find a business that fits your pocket and start from there.
The business world is like a staircase, one step at a time. If you try to skip a lot of stairs, you tend to stretch too much and either you fall miserably or you sustain an injury.
There is a lesson for each level of success and each level propels you to the next.” His multi-million transport company that we all see and admire today started with just one bus. Most young people are impatient and refuse to follow the part of growth. No one wants a business idea that will take 15years 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, no matter how small?