Are you willing to let go of a dream and face reality?

As human beings, we sometimes convince ourselves that our thoughts or desires are right or wrong sometimes because it is what we seek to believe. This is among the challenges that most entrepreneurs face and it can lead to bad decision making, if we do not let this go. It is true we should follow our passion and believe in ourselves but through that process we also need facts, strategies and reliable resources to make decisions and ensure we fulfil our passions. Some of the things we should do and avoid are explained below: 

1. Avoid being bias 
Most entrepreneurs tend to be biased and ignore the information or situations that are right in front of them because in their minds they have a dream and believe they have everything sorted out. This is wrong! and this will drag your business to lose and you might end up starting over again. We are allowed to dream but to do so we are supposed to let go of the fantasies and provide a plan to fulfil our dream. An entrepreneur should be able to analyse the external and internal environment of their business which can be achieved through a  Marketing plan.

2. Collect reliable data 

In the world of globalisation and technology, information is available in different sources. Conducting secondary research as a first tool to analyse the environment would save more time and money for every entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, you should be thinking of ways to make things possible without the need of spending because financial assistance is difficult to earn. Therefore we can rely on the internet, newspapers to collect information but make sure the information collected is reliable and up to date. Furthermore, we can also conduct primary research in the form of a questionnaire or focus group. We entrepreneurs are also encouraged to be creative therefore we can use innovative ways to collect data through the help of friends and families without spending money.  Use google form surveys, share the links on different social media platforms to find your target audience such as Facebook or LinkedIn and you can get the data you need.

3. Get out of your comfort zone
If you want to be successful as an entrepreneur you should be willing to get out of your confront zone and work on what you need to achieve. You should keep in mind that at the initial stage of your journey you should be willing to do more and do not expect to hire anyone to accomplish what you need because only you know it better than anyone. learn new things if you have to, connect with different people and schedule your routines.

4.  Be patient 
At times entrepreneurs tend to rush into the market because they are in a hurry to earn or be successful. It is good to want success but patience is the key to success. Do not feel lazy to collect information and rush to enter the market instead collect information once it's complete you can enter the market knowing your strategies and much confidence with yourself. Think about having long term success too and not short term. We sometimes tend to waste our investments by not being patients and are forced to try over again and again. sometimes we create those risks by ourselves so be patients and most importantly change those little elements in yourself that force you rush into things without proper knowledge. Always remind yourself that patience is the key.

Note: These are some of the challenges that I managed to discover with most entrepreneurs through my individual research feel free to share more unique challenges at The Entrepreneurship Passion!

Recognise your value before choosing your career path

Know your worth, skills and capabilities before entering the work industry.

Certain things are unknown to people who enter the work industry right after graduation or those searching for new career opportunities. For instance, a fresh graduate would want to get an internship but might be less aware of what to expect. Fresh graduates are always told to be active and differentiate themselves from other graduating candidates with the same degree. The only way to do so is by taking different projects and other extracurricular activities. I cannot say for sure that these might actually work or attract the recruiter during the hiring process. It forms a question what does the recruiter expect or look into the candidate's resume?

The answer would probably be someone to achieve and do well on the tasks that the company is currently looking to progress in or even complete. 

We all create resumes to apply for jobs. Still, the question is, do the recruiters evaluate the skill sets in your resume or is the recruiter's only interest is to ensure you get the job done? In today's world, the primary purpose of a business is to make profit and to satisfy the shareholders. Therefore, the recruiter will probably hire you for fulfilling the shareholder's needs but might not look into your skill sets and capabilities. Your skill sets will only be looked into when they are needed, and sometimes they could be ignored too.   

Companies hire talented individuals who have accomplished so many things but are given jobs that do not match their skill sets. This is all because of saving costs, and they fail to progress an individual skillsets for higher future profits.
The point is no one can see the value and skills that you have and can contribute to their organisation. People will only see the tasks that you have to get done no matter your capabilities. So the only way for you to use your abilities and skillsets wisely is to get out there and dare to be your own boss and be an entrepreneur. If you know your talented and are ambitious to do something great, then use your passion to create something of your own! The more time is wasted the more energy and passion will decrease.

Note: I have written this based on my opinion. However, it is not meant to judge all companies are the same. Some companies invest in their people first and make their employees love what they do. Some companies do not invest in their people and provide jobs that do not meet their abilities and skillsets.

Do share your own thoughts and opinions in The Entrepreneurship Passion!

The Best Advice for Fresh Graduates

Graduation ceremony 

It is sometimes difficult to know what you would like to pursue once you graduate or sometimes, even when your studying for a profession you might end up not liking what you do when entering the workforce. Well, this happens all the TIME! If your a fresh graduate and your reading this let me tell you, it is not the end of the world! Being an entrepreneur doesn't mean that you have to start your own company, you can use your skills to provide services to others too. I am going to share with you a few things you can do based on my experience and how you can discover what you're good at. The one thing that fresh graduates tend to do is focusing more on future expectations rather than focusing on what they currently have, and I did that too.

The most important thing to do is to discover your personality.

Before I discovered that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I wanted to be an accountant mainly because I was good at it in high school, and it was among the classes that I enjoyed. However, when I got the opportunity to work as a full-time accountant before I went to university, well guess what I HATED WHAT I WAS DOING. I started questioning myself, and I had a tough time to know what I wanted to pursue in my career. The next thing I did was, I choose to study business administration. I took the risk and guessed to myself by saying maybe its the right thing for me to take. After I got to university, two years of my degree went by, I then discovered what I wanted to be was an entrepreneur. So you might be asking yourself, how I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur well; this is how firstly, I listened to myself, and I was honest with myself. Very few people can accept their personality traits because they are afraid of being judged, or they think they are better than what they find out to be about themselves. Well, guess what! Once you discover and accept all those little hurtful and good things about yourself, then it will be easier for you to overcome them and to realize what suits you best. When I started listening to myself, I decided to take a personality test, and I did this just by typing out personality test via the internet. Still, one thing to remember is, to be honest when answering the test. After I did the test I managed to go back and relate to all the things I enjoyed to do, the things I achieved throughout my journey, and that's when I finally realized what I wanted to do, and that is being an Entrepreneur! 

Note: In the end, it always gets to a point where your personality defines what suits you best and if you have a passion for a career that does not necessarily fit your personality then you can use your personality as a strategy to help you enjoy your career. I hope my story helps you figure things out and feel free to share your stories or ask any question in The Entrepreneurship Passion.

The struggle for Financial Assistance and Advice

Financial assistance and Advice

It is a challenge for young entrepreneurs to get financial assistance and advice from some of the successful entrepreneurs. Which is in a way a normal process that almost every single entrepreneur faces in their lifetime. Due to globalisation we now have access to communication channels that help communication flow much easier but nevertheless, the communication can only flow easier if there is a response between the sender and the receiver. At times, we build the courage to actually try to contact entrepreneurs for advice but sometimes we do not get a response. And this does not only happen to entrepreneurs but also job seekers out there who apply for jobs in great companies however these companies have terrible recruitment practice and fail to respond to the job seekers.

Financial assistance is the most difficult process for every entrepreneur out there. When we think about investors or banks, we assume that the only way you can receive financial assistance is when there is trust between the receiver and the loaner. An investor and the bank would want assurance on how they will be paid back on time. And the only way to prove that is when you have valuable assets or profits for an already existing company. So for the new startups, what should they do? how can we gain the trust from investors or banks without having the valuable assets or profits?

In my opinion, my advice would be to ask for financial assistance from family members and friends firsts before going to the big giants and also to be patient and work with what you have. Moreover, seek a job and run your dream with your own sweat and tears. It is better than working, with a stress reminder that always reminds you to pay off a debt and limits you to take risks for the expansion of your own business. 

These are some of the things that limit entrepreneurs, especially those who have dreams to go big and have innovative products that require large financial assistance. They tend to give up that dream because they believe their current salaries or savings would take a lifetime to reach their goals. Well truth be told, it is hard but as an entrepreneur, you have the passion and the capability to think of other innovative ways to achieve your dream. Start small, make a prototype during the process you will discover items that are low cost and that can be replaced with affordable prices to actually produce a great product. This is how companies save costs too for production ( Economic of scale )!!. Find ways to give yourself knowledge, read a lot, use the internet and be able to give yourself the advice you need to move forward. 

Here is an article, that provides information on 10 organisation that provides support for entrepreneurs.  https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253283

Note: Let me know what you think and if possible do share your thoughts about the struggle of financial assistance and advice here in The Entrepreneurship Passion. 

Questioning our choices and afraid to take risks

Questioning our choices 

Every entrepreneur has reached a stage where they tend to question themselves about their choices and whether what they want to do is right and if they are willing to take the risks. 

Surprise! this is totally normal, especially for individuals who do not earn as much income and are afraid to be BROKE!. There is a saying that you should be able to take risks in order to be successful, which is sometimes true but the success does not always come straight to profit! (the entrepreneur's dream!). It sometimes comes from struggle and failure (the entrepreneur's worst nightmare). Nevertheless, an entrepreneur will gain more experience, when taking risks and they will be able to learn from these experiences ( win-win situation ). 

The main point here is that it is normal to question your choices because of risks. However, it would be wise for entrepreneurs to actually calculate the risks and be able to mitigate these risks by always having a PLAN B! (we all know money isn't easy to get but easy to spend). A lot of entrepreneurs who wish to have there owned business startups, they always focus a lot on that one way on how they can start and operate their business. But at the end of the day, they claim to have not enough capital. This is because they have envisioned their business to have certain types of requirements to start. This can work for legal documents but not with other resources that can be tackled with creativity. The entrepreneurs should have PLAN B to make things work through and not necessarily waste a lot of time to figure out something that can eventually be done just by THINKING SMART! AND NOT ONLY WORKING HARD!. So instead, combine both into one and be able to start a business with the right confidence knowing your available options to mitigate the risks. And you have to stop the negative thoughts of questioning your choices because it can lead you to doubts and discouragement.   

I have shared with you a link that explains in-depth about having a PLAN if you wish to know more.

READ MORE: Importance of PLAN B in business by Rachel Hanebutt ( 12th May 2017) 

https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/importance-plan-b-business

Note: It would be great for passionate entrepreneurs to share their thoughts and advice on how they worked through the questioning and risks that they faced during their startups and maybe provide some tips for planning in The Entrepreneurship Passion!

We can dream it!

The Entrepreneurship dream

Being your own boss is almost like a dream isn't it? when aiming to become an entrepreneur we usually tend to dream a lot and imagine how our lives will become once we hit that success point. At the same time, we think of how creative our business will be and all the ups and downs that we will be able to overcome since we love this passion of being an entrepreneur and we believe we know it better than anyone else. (Well let me tell you the reality!) 

1. It is easy to dream it! but HELL to even start it!  

Dreaming makes us feel strong and to have more hope in achieving a successful business someday. But the hard truth of dreaming is when we set to take actions we are confused about where to actually start. We become so clueless and have no idea on how to even step a foot forward and we end up stressing about everything. Yes, we will do research and be all pumped up, we will come up with ideas, think about writing the business plan and then get stuck when it comes to financial planning. All this happens but the one thing that should overcome all these and still keep trying is our passion! 

Note: Let me know, what you think and if you can actually relate to this (Share your dream and surprises ) then we can discuss the next topic in The Entrepreneurship Passion!