One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?”
I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics.
We all come from the era where our society and education prepared us for the labor market, meaning working for someone else as an information professional, factory worker, or retail associate. Now change is driving an opportunity society, where the next step is undefined, and entrepreneurs are in the forefront of the wave of people whose best skill is learning how to learn.
A while back I found a great book, “America’s Moment: Creating Opportunity in the Connected Age,” put together by a group of fifty current leaders from across American life, that points out well some of the tools that can help all of us learn how to learn in this rapidly changing world of new opportunities. I have adapted their key recommendations here for aspiring entrepreneurs:
- Business gamification and simulation. Learning doesn’t have to be all work. We know now that people learn from a younger age, and keep coming back for more, from sources that are entertaining and educational (edutainment). With new tools like ThriveTime Show and GamEffective, people of any age can learn to start or take their business up a level.
- Adaptive business advising and learning. Every business and every entrepreneur is at a different stage, so it’s time to seek out learning tools that can adapt to you, rather than the other way around. Universities and the marketplace are spawning tools like Brainly, which is a learning network or massively multi-player question and answer tool.
- Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. The wealth of online education offerings is a great start, but is not enough. Business advisors need to be ready to help at every stage, and I see it beginning to happen. Yet many new entrepreneurs are hesitant, perhaps out of fear or ego. If you are not constantly learning, you are falling behind.
- Mix business learning with doing. Entrepreneurs don’t need to know everything about business before they start. They do need the first few steps, and where to find the next steps. There is no standard course for this, but the answers are accessible online, if you know how to search, follow blogs, and interact with the relevant social media groups.
- Business financial aid alternatives. Crowdfunding is just the latest alternative for assistance to entrepreneurs who need help, supplementing the existing alternatives of loans, grants, angel investors, venture capital and many others. These days, if you can’t find money, you haven’t tried hard enough or maybe your idea isn’t a good one.
- Utilize business content curators and coaches. Potential resources available to entrepreneurs are enormous, but often under-utilized. The challenge is to find these just-in-time, including community and university startup incubators, accelerators, and advisors. Entrepreneurs should be monitoring online curator platforms and blogs.
In this new opportunity society, the personal traits for success have also changed from the industrial age and the information age. The days of long-term loyalty to an employer and methodically following direction are gone. Now the premium is on creativity, willingness to take a risk, and ability to keep up with change. Persistence and problem solving are sought-after virtues.
Nurturing these traits, and practicing incremental and continuous learning, are the best ways to start the life you want as an entrepreneur. Finally, before you start, you need to define what success means to you. It may include financial gain, but more likely the lasting satisfaction and happiness will result from your legacy of change in technology, or your impact on the social ecology of the world. If you can’t tell me where you want to go, I can’t really tell you how to start.
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