The ABCs of how to become an exceptional entrepreneur

It has often been said that entrepreneurship is the one profession where there is no apprenticeship. It does not matter how many books you read, how many certificates you acquire, how many companies you have worked for, or who your godfathers and mentors are. It also does not matter who advises you. There is no substitute to actual practise and experience.

In as much as the advice you are getting from friends, experts and your past experiences has potential value, the crucial decision of starting a business of your choice should be yours and yours alone. Whereas you need to observe due diligence by carrying out a feasibility study to confirm or plant a mental conviction, the future of whatever venture you start cannot be predicted through research or opinion of anybody irrespective of experience or profession. This is because as long as you are not duplicating or imitating others, your ideas are as unique as you are, and their potential no one including yourself can tell until you have tried. Here are certain traits that are a trademarks of an entrepreneur.

Initiative

Once you have strong conviction about a business idea, the noblest thing to do is go ahead and implement it. Do not be discouraged by critics; as long as you have products to sell, let the customers be the judge.

Emerson in his essay on self-reliance put it correctly when he wrote that, “There comes a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature and none but he knows what that is not which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”

Safaricom’s astronomical growth that saw it become the most profitable company in East and Central African with more than 12 million customers in less than a decade baffled both critics and shareholders.

It achieved a multi-year growth projection within a few years of opening business. No one expected so many people in Kenya, where more than half of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, to spend money on expensive airtime and related gadgets.

Google, the biggest search engine in the world, was created by two Ph.D students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin working for a project at Stanford University. When they discovered the business value in their creation, they abandoned their studies to exploit it, but not without great challenges.

They started working out of a friend’s garage. With users attracted to its uncluttered design and speedy performance, Google continued to rise while many of its dotcom competitors went bust.

An entrepreneur is more than someone who just invests money, oversees or manages business. An entrepreneur must first and foremost be someone who initiates an undertaking; a self starter; willing to come out of his comfort zone and overcome his fears and weaknesses. An entrepreneur is driven by conviction and the desire to make a difference which must be greater than the challenges and risks associated with the venture.

Decisiveness and determination

Entrepreneurs are action oriented. Robert Kiyosaki wrote, “After one of my demoralizing business failures, I went to rich dad and asked, ‘So what did I do wrong? I thought I designed it well?’ ‘Obviously you didn’t,’ rich dad said with a smirk.

“The world is filled with wannabe entrepreneurs. They sit behind desks, have important sounding titles like vice-president, branch manager, or supervisor, and some even take home a decent paycheck. These wannabe entrepreneurs dream of someday starting their own business empire and maybe someday some of them will.

Yet I believe most will never make the leap. Most will have some excuse such as, ‘When the kids are grown’, or ‘I’ll go back to school first,’ or ‘When I have enough money saved.’”

Entrepreneurs do not entertain or craft excuses for not making a decision once an opportunity arises. They rise to the occasion and follow their convictions rather than procrastinate and wait for the right time.