Are You An Aspiring Young Entrepreneur?

Are You An Aspiring Young Entrepreneur?

There are enough and more books out there on entrepreneurship and what key qualities make a successful entrepreneur.  In fact, you will be wise to quickly recognise that there is no holy grail for literature on entrepreneurship – no perfect book. With all their business jargon, most books often lose sight of the big picture. These books below, however, deeply explore some powerful qualities anybody should aspire to have, particularly aspiring young entrepreneurs.

Believing

Great businesses are born out of great ideas, and great ideas are a product of the audacity to dream. Businesses rarely prosper from ideas their owners don’t passionately believe in. This belief is a very difficult concept to hold between the covers of a book and authors often fail to convey what it really means to be passionate about something. In our estimation, Subroto Bagchi comes pretty close to succeeding. Bagchi, co-founder of Mindtree, in his autobiographical book “Go Kiss the World: Life Lessons for the Young Professional” says “People who create great impact suffer from moments of great soul-searching. In itself, it is a good sign because from the depth of our self-doubt we learn to let go; from that emerges a conviction and with it comes the capability to go kiss the world”.

Persevering

With most challenges, you rarely succeed in the first attempt. There’s a lot of falling down and picking yourself up again. While a strong belief in something starts you off on the path of entrepreneurship, hard work and perseverance is what keeps you going. Richard Bach’s wildly famous novella “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, about a seagull that chooses to ask more of his life than his friends and family ever have, encapsulates this thought beautifully. This short book may tell a very simple story, but conveys a very strong message. In doggedly pursuing what you believe in, remember, “Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.”

Networking

Most people shy away from the thought of networking. But entrepreneurs can’t afford to do that. Business, after all, is built on the foundation of a group of people believing in you and your idea. So how do you build that network of well-wishers? You “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty”. Harvey Mackay in this classic book talks about how by building a powerful network of friends and business partners now you can reach out for help when faced with the challenges of a start-up in the future. He quotes Dale Carnegie to bring home his point of building meaningful relationships – “You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the way to make a friend is to be one.”

Selling

Selling is no more reserved for just salespeople. Whatever it is you may want to do with your business, you’re always selling something to somebody. It may be an idea to a venture capitalist, a product to a customer or a job to a potential employee. To convince someone to hear you out while offering them a chance to benefit from this is a skill every entrepreneur must develop. Daniel Pink, in his book “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others”, puts it wonderfully when he says “Finally, at every opportunity you have to move someone—from traditional sales, like convincing a prospect to buy a new computer system, to non-sales selling, like persuading your daughter to do her homework—be sure you can answer the two questions at the core of genuine service. If the person you’re selling to agrees to buy, will his or her life improve? When your interaction is over, will the world be a better place than when you began? If the answer to either of these questions is no, you’re doing something wrong.”

Recalibrating

A dangerous thing for a business is to rest on its laurels. Knowing that there’s always something that needs improving is as important as improving it. The book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Other’s Don’t” by Jim Collins explores the stories of 28 businesses and how they scaled up from being good to becoming great. He says “Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

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