10 Misconceptions you have about Entrepreneurship

10 Misconceptions you have about Entrepreneurship

Many people want to become entrepreneurs so that they can operate as CEOs of their destinies. Many of us know what it is to be an entrepreneur but do not understand what it is for knowing is different from understanding. Our understanding is clouded by some misconceptions. What are so those misconceptions? I share ten of them in this article:

1. That Entrepreneurship is an Immediate Meal Ticket:

It is not. The reason nine of ten people who go into it fail. The desire to use it as an immediate platform to put food on the table cannot sustain you in entrepreneurship because at some point, it might not just be able to put food on the table. If you see it that way, you are likely to fail. Entrepreneurship succeeds when it is driven by change-the-world concept rather than meal-ticket vision. It becomes an effective meal ticket only when it has succeeded. Do you want to get into it just because you have lost your job? Think again.

2. That Entrepreneurship is on the Surface:

It is not. It is abstract. It is a case of the more you look and the less you see. What defines success is never written in a playbook. Beyond the business book stuffs, a lot of deals are involved. Ability to bargain and negotiate is even more important than marketing. When you close the shop for the day, you may have to resume in the club to make a covenant (not blood oaths!). The rules are not usually written. You have to write your own rules.

3. That Entrepreneurship is not Employment:

It is. Many people see entrepreneurship as a window to get away: to sleep till noon, take money from the account and give jobs to whosoever the promoter desires. The fastest way to failure. For you to succeed, you must remain wired into the entrepreneurship mentality; that’s the only way to engender responsibility. If your disposition is “na-me-get-am”, you will soon kiss the venture bye-bye.

4. That Rough Times in Entrepreneurship are usually at the Beginning:

They are not. Rough times are the diamonds of business, they are there forever. Entrepreneurship is life in all its dimensions: sickness, recovery, poverty, wealth, good times, bad times and on and on. Therefore, the stamina, DNA and business lifestyle of the entrepreneur matter. In this respect, a medical plan or insurance scheme for poor health is necessary. Develop a healthy reserves in times of business boom. Grow cost less proportionately to revenue. Grow organically and avoid steroids as much as possible (high interest bank loans, big acquisitions, expansion etc.).

5. That Every Entrepreneurship Innovation will lead to Success:

Not necessarily. Innovation is a means to an end, it is not the end itself. Ideas usually appear more profitable in theories than in practice. So don’t always bet on it. From my experience, eight out of ten new ideas in a business usually don’t achieve the desired results. But the one or two that work eventually cover up for the losses of the initial missteps. Even Microsoft, for all its success in operating systems, fail with Vistas. Go it gently. Sit every new idea out. Allow time for fixes and germination. Don’t dive into an unknown pond, drop a leg slowly first. That way, you know how deep it is.

6 That Entrepreneurship Success is a Matter of Time:

It is not. There may be no end to failures. Sometimes, failure even comes after several strings of successes. You may never get better at it because every success usually brings hubris. Several banks in the world failed after several successful strings of growth and landmark achievements. All it took were two failed transactions. Nobody gets better at living until one dies. You can never be too careful at any point in time. Do it always as if you are doing for the first time. Ask the right questions. Do the right background checks. Consult widely.

7. That Entrepreneurship can be Government-Driven:

It cannot be. It can only be government enabled. True entrepreneurs can be encouraged by incentives, they are not usually lured into it. The must-do spirit shouts from within. Check it out, especially in countries with strong profiles of success in entrepreneurship, like the United States, great entrepreneurs are not usually created by government schemes, they are enabled by the environment and institutions they have found around themselves. What’s the point? Fixing power will be more helpful to entrepreneurs than committing N200 billion into a low interest rate Intervention Fund for young graduates. You cannot incentivise someone with no tennis in her to become a Serena Williams but you can allow the Serena Williamses of this country to rise and shine with standard courts in place.

8. That Entrepreneurship is all about What:

It is not. It is also about why. What represents the idea(s) behind entrepreneurship while why is the philosophy. It is dy-dx. The idea starts from what; the philosophy, from why. The question many entrepreneurs ask is: what are people eating now? Good question. But why not also ask?: why are they eating it? That enables you see behind the cloud and adjust your what when the why is changing.

9. That Entrepreneurship is about Me:

It is not. It is about systems, structures and institutions. Many entrepreneurs fail because they fail to see beyond themselves, their feelings, their thoughts and their dispositions. It takes a community to build an enterprise. Great entrepreneurs build institutions; they don’t make money. Their wealth endures around those institutions. The institutions act as check and balances; spotting opportunities, avoiding risks even while the promoter is asleep.

10. That Entrepreneurship Model can be copied:

Entrepreneurship lines (baking, banking, bunkering etc.) can be copied, but one model works for enterprise, one institution. No two models, if both are successful, are the same. This is the most important point because this is where most entrepreneurs get it wrong. Food business, as lucrative as it usually appears, will not work for everyone. You just have to find what I call your Personal Push-Factors (PSFs). They are advantages, natural or self-created, unique to you that nobody, nobody in your business has. Find it before you go into entrepreneurship because if you don’t, you will only play the also-run who comes last, all the times, in the race. It’s not enough to go into entrepreneurship because it is making money or there is strong demand. You are not the only one that has probably noticed this. There must be something that will work for you that all others (not many others) are not likely to have, at least, in the short run.